an indoor blizzard
by Aiko Isari
Summary: Tsukino Yuki goes to Hogwarts and Sayo follows. Chaos ensues, along with time travel shenanigans. Slight crack, dubious verse canon. Rating Subject to Change
1. Chapter 1

_Warnings: time dilation, blind character, house prejudice,_ ptsd _, disdain of Wizarding World practices, half human creatures_

* * *

Chapter One - A Fox From a Blizzard

Draco Malfoy, by the sound of his voice alone, was everything on Earth that Tsukino Yuki disliked in one package.

That was his name because she had heard people say variations and respond to it on and off while she'd been trying to find her way around in this crowd of nonsense. She was sure that over the next nine months the older boy would end up revealing some great trauma about his life (probably his father, every rich kid had problems with at least one parent if she went by books about this sort of thing, and it was usually the father) and she'd dredge up some pity for him and they'd become friends after she knocked his ego down a few pegs, but right now, as she heard him disembark from the train behind her, the girl was tempted to turn around and kill him. If she could hear him, she was half sure her sister could too, despite being already inside the walls of this demented ass school made of stone and mana and blood.

Part of this was a headache, she knew, the headache and the rain. The headache of being around ignorant, unknowing children who had no idea that she was blind despite the familiar loop of leather indicating her cane was right in her hand. These kids who had no idea that everything had a scent and a voice and a magical presence and there were enough in this small area to make her want to rip off her skin and squash a few.

Yuki, having self-preservation, did not do this. But she thought about it. She really did.

Instead, she clambered into a boat with a boy who smelled like a chipmunk and buzzed around like one and a girl who stank of metal and another who cried. Yuki merely budged up for them without a word. She would rather not talk if she didn't have to for at least the rest of the night.

She knew exactly what she looked like, despite not having been able to look in a mirror for over a year now. She was still small enough to look underfed, which wasn't off the mark no matter how much her family had tried. She was still pale, but with actual sunlight on her over the past three months, it almost looked tolerable and even made the scars harder to see. She knew her watery blue eyes were now ash-grey, matching the white hair she'd cut with bathroom scissors and her sister had repaired to look cute rather than rebellious. The black cloak she wore was the most well-fitting clothes she'd ever worn and it made her sick.

This place made her sick.

The crying girl sniffled into a handkerchief. She could smell that it had been bleached clean this morning, despite the snot that was probably on it now.

"Buck up," said the other girl. "It's gonna be fine. We're witches, Marnie!"

The other girl only cried harder.

Yuki resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Be self-aware why don't you?

There was a great yell of _forward_ far ahead, boomed like a giant, and the boat moved with a clunk. Yuki dug her fingers into the boat's bench and heard it splinter ungratefully. The crying girl - Marnie - shrieked at the sound. Yuki ignored it studiously, enjoying the move away from many other people and the smell that wafted from the carriages that she'd heard clatter down the cobblestones when the train stopped.

How did no one notice that those things smelled like rotting meat? Perhaps they had some air spray to cover it. She contained a snigger at the thought.

Wizards. Air spray. Modern conveniences.

 _These bastards don't have period underwear._

Her sister had duly informed her they didn't have tampons or pads within two weeks either unless you talked with the nurse in advance. Their father, the gynecologist, was suitably horrified. They had rags. Or a vanishing spell. Ew.

They also didn't have the one thing her sister actually needed but that was actually sensible. How many half-dragons would be at a school anyhow?

Seriously they needed to get out of this weather. These robes were thin. If she wasn't used to days where she had forgotten what heat felt like this would be unbearable.

Very suddenly, their boat lurched. Yuki, without thinking, lunged across the small boat as the boy fell in with a squeak and a large splash. She grabbed at the back of his robes and tugged.

The girls shrieked together, twice even, as the boat, instead of falling over entirely, was splashed by something big and heavy. And slimy. It stank of sea water.

"The giant squid," someone screamed and Yuki did roll her eyes that time. Clearly, it was fine or it would have eaten them by now along with six other classes of idiots. She yanked the kid back as the boat righted itself properly.

"Thanks, squid," she told the general direction of the tentacle. She could vaguely smell it, so it was probably sentient or at least polite.

The tentacle removed itself from the boat. Rain kicked into her face.

"I hope that was waving," she told it, before settling back down in her seat and letting out a sneeze. It simply sank back down into the water with a gurgle.

Least something here had some manners.

The boy was looking at her (she assumed because that was all people did when they were unable to do things with discretion) with wonder. "That was so cool!"

"You could have drowned," she said without interest.

The boy was unperturbed. "But you're blind!"

 _Oh to be such an innocent little snot._ "Thank you for loudly observing that," Yuki deadpanned, closing her eyes anyway. "And yes I am. I can still hear you, feel you, and smell the water."

She was half-certain that the boy was sparkling. "That's so cool."

 _Please kill me,_ Yuki begged her sister on the inside, wishing that she could hear her telepathically.

But her sister could not, so she spent the rest of her boat ride being stared at.

* * *

Tsukino Yuki was only a first year out of necessity.

If anything, they could have sent Sayo alone to Earth and been done with it. Yuki had no memories of Earth, no memories of a world that didn't want anything to do with freaks with inhuman features or weirdoes who accompanied monsters from another world. Her sister did, however, even if they were locked up somewhere in her traumatized, wiped head. She had interests that were probably earth dedicated and mattered more.

That said, you could apparently have a sixteen-year-old teacher, but not a sixteen-year-old transfer student. Which was awkward, considering she would need years of day school to even get to the amounts of knowledge required by Japanese standards, which were always inevitably too high by her father's admittance from years of living there with her great-uncle Tobio. This was also screwed up by the fact that someone had put a kill on sight order on Yuki's own head.

She knew why that order had been placed there but honestly it was starting to get troublesome (especially since by temporal standards it hadn't happened yet). She had been kidnapped, mentally tortured, blinded, and had been made to commit murder due to circumstances outside of her control. She had been _ten_. Whoever had decided she deserved death because of that needed their head checked.

If it was the same guy who had ordered her family evicted, she would not be surprised.

Still, apparently, Sayo had, despite a self-admitted inability to read and write past elementary school level in Japanese and bare bones grasp of English until last month, managed to figure out how to teach, learn, and work in a school setting that had all the sane culture of woolly mammoths.

Yuki was happy to not have to do that. She just had to keep speaking accented English and deal with Braille.

Why had they agreed to do this? Heck, why had the chiefs decided to go along with this time travel crap?

Probably because it was funny.

There was a loud creak in front of her, likely the doors opening to reveal the stern woman who smelled like a cat that had met her a few times before.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she began, her accent thick and Yuki's Digivice taking a millisecond too long to make sense of it. "I am Minerva McGonagall, professor of Transfiguration and as of this year, the basics of Magical Theory. In a moment, you will be taken to the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your houses."

Yuki tuned her out, listening to the steady thumps of the gamekeeper - Hagrid, she thought his name was, but the syllables sounded like they weren't meant to be English at all - as he went through to another door, likely to join the meal. She could hear him clearly, though few others would. He was drenched the poor man. She hoped someone would be able to give him a drying charm or whatever. He had given off his coat to the idiot in her boat who'd had all the sense of a domesticated gerbil.

Then the crowd lurched and Yuki heard layer after layer of whispering over the sounds of balloons.

"Our family? What about our family back home?"

"What a load of bollocks. Looks like that Minnie's losing her touch too."

"Should have gone to-"

Yuki rolled her eyes. After she did, someone gave her a rough jostle.

"What was that for?"

Yuki didn't even tilt her head to pretend and look when they said that. That always unnerved people, even some of those with hard hearts who had seen dead children looking at them for a week before having them all together to burn on a pyre.

Instead, she chose to laugh. "You're _eleven_ and pampered. What do you all know about bollocks and senility? Have some respect. There's a reason she's standing here to teach you instead of letting you all drown with those pretty mermaids in the lake."

They were all staring at her again. Yuki's smile only widened, prepared to catch a headache as she took her first steps into the so-called Great Hall.

Immediately, her senses were flooded, covered in the smell and touch and taste of magic, which was what it was, leaking and new and withering and old and all sorts of colors and textures and all she could see was a rainbow until-

There was one, a center of a head probably, an ethereal shade of green, all wrong and permeating through the rest of the body.

Then the other, a solid flame of purple, sat quietly to the side of the room. It gave a soft, light flare of acknowledgment and Yuki found herself able to breathe again.

Her sister was still there, had not left to hide in the given bedroom and face the onslaught of stupidity that was semi-ordinary rich kids.

Yuki exhaled and smiled, facing the other large flares of magic, facing red and orange and yellow as it stood in the middle, upraised, likely in a chair.

Something was just in front of it, a strange murky grey… oh.

Right. Sayo had warned her. This was the Sorting Hat.

And it started to sing.

She did not listen to it, She did not want to, not really. It was one thing to brag about accomplishments, and she supposed it brought wonder to these kids and broaden their horizon. It made them feel good about themselves. However, she had better things to do, like not fall over from sensory overload.

Yuki was confident, certain, as a matter of fact, that she didn't need the things these people were selling. The things people, she needed to be confident in, were already in her life. If she added more, well and good, if not, she wouldn't care much.

After all, she was here for one purpose, and one purpose only.

"Tsukino Yuki!"

Yuki bowed her head to the stern woman, felt something change in the stare. Good. She had pronounced her name right. She would be worth respecting, worth conferring with. For now.

So she walked up the steps without tripping, made it to the chair and sat.

All the noise, all the sensation fell quiet, like a cut marionette, when the hat fell upon her head.

" _Oh my, look at this."_

The sound picked up again with only one voice.

" _What an interesting little thing you are,"_ said the hat with as much interest as it probably ever had. " _Young and bloodstained, just like your sister. You're much easier to sort than she was."_

" _She's not even going to be in a house,"_ Yuki thought with annoyance in her throat.

" _No,"_ the hat admitted. " _But it gives a good cover, doesn't it? She was quite difficult, I admit. Courage and love and determination in equal measure."_

 _"And I have none of those things."_

The hat _laughed. "Oh but you do. You have all of those things in spades. But you also know exactly where you need to be to accomplish what you must. And it isn't Hufflepuff."_

" _Unfortunately."_ Though she did like them by how they sounded.

" _Nor is it with the ravens or the lions. No, better to be with the snakes where you can help them shed their skins, no?"_

Well, that was going to be good for her self-esteem. " _Or rip them off._ _Just hurry up."_

" _Very well. Off to_ SLYTHERIN _with you."_

Yuki sighed and passed the hat away, walking towards the clapping table that stank of rosemary and lavender.

She was going to keep Harry Potter alive somehow from the opposite side and win the war and all sorts of things.

All because of a woman named Cho Chang.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ Incoming crack idea ahoy. You know all those 'protect Harry Potter' fics. Well, it's my turn! Except it's already derailing nine chapters in. You're welcome, everybody! Now, there are some spoilers for If the Moon Shines, but you don't need to read it to understand, I basically summed up Yuki's part of it in the chapter. I hope you like the edgiest of eleven-year-olds because I love her. If not, Harry and his friends, and some Slytherins are gonna help. You heard me. This is going to avoid bashing as much as possible. I will have to take the piss out on some Slytherins for a while though because Rowling has no sense of how people work. That does not mean the other Houses are getting a pass. Yuki is just in a bad place for a while. And a while I mean a while. Prepare for morality vs morality, and questionable teaching methods. (The government elected Umbridge who has no educational qualifications, I can stretch it.)

Please read and review if you feel so inclined. All answers will come in time.

Challenges: Epic Masterclass (OC) 6, An Epic Big Bang (Magical), Mega Prompts Quote 48, Advent 2015 day 24, Crossover Boot Camp - ten, original character boot camp - eggs, gameverse boot camp - billowy.


	2. Chapter 2

_Warnings: Improper use of silverware, threats._

* * *

 _Chapter Two - Gold and Silver_

Harry Potter was not an ordinary boy. The Wizarding World was very fond of reminding him of that. But he was a Gryffindor and so he watched Tsukino Yuki cross the Hall to her new House with a distinct sensation of distrust. She had been looking at him, briefly, or something like it. He had heard Dean whisper that she was blind, and he'd heard it from some kids on the train. But her eyes seemed to work on finding him, so he wondered.

"Foreigner, huh?" Ron noted with a grumble, though some of that could have been his stomach. "Sure acts like a Slytherin."

Ron wasn't wrong. He could see people trying to talk to her at the table and she was studiously avoiding them like Malfoy did anyne not up to his standards.

Hermione gave the two of them looks of disapproval, which wasn't surprising. Out of all of them, she didn't hate the Slytherin house, only certain people. But as a whole to Harry, the house was a bunch of nasty, bigoted shrews. It wasn't anything they would ever agree on, he assumed.

"Is she a transfer student, d'you reckon?" he asked to diffuse the tension. (It was the first night, no arguments, none, please.)

"Can't be," Neville offered softly from his plate, clapping for another student's sorting. "Hogwarts doesn't allow for transfer students without extenuating circumstances anymore, which would be politically related. Gran, erm, she mentioned once that someone transferred out of her mum's class but that was ages back. Transfers can only work if they haven't started schooling yet, so it really only happens between Ilvermorny and Hogwarts, or Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, I think. The bigger schools."

All of them looked at Neville and he flushed awkwardly. "Gran was thinking of putting me in Ilvermorny because we've got a couple relatives, but Hogwarts was where we've all gone, so…"

Hermione was practically salivating, eyes sparkling with the prospect of other schools and what they did. "That's fascinating, Neville…"

Harry couldn't help but agree. "I didn't even know that there _were_ other schools." Which to him didn't say much? If the Dursleys had had their way, he would have never known at all about anything like magic.

Neville, still pink, nodded. "There are eleven larger schools, including Hogwarts. There are some smaller ones or home school programs but people usually go to the big ones. That's what makes her weird. Her name sounds Japanese," he gestured. "Cho Chang-" For _some reason_ , Harry's face flushed awkwardly. "Is Chinese and British-born, so she has an invite to Hogwarts on that. But I don't think that Tsukino girl is, or we would have heard about it at pureblood circles. All I've heard is what Madame Marchbanks has said and-"

He stopped as Professor McGonagall carried the hat away and the feast began.

Ron buried his face gleefully into his food. Harry resisted the urge to do the same, with gusto. He was half-certain that he hadn't quite picked up the weight he'd lost subsisting on small grapefruit quarters and snuck food under a floorboard, no matter what Mrs. Weasley tried. But, try as he might, Neville's words hadn't quite left his head.

Lucky for him, Hermione hadn't forgotten them either. "What were you saying, Neville?"

The other boy didn't answer immediately, still chewing on his roast chicken leg. But then he swallowed and winced. "Well, there were a lot of things… Madame Marchbanks is a friend of Gran's and OWLs have a subject at dinner sometimes. But they mentioned her last name I think. And…" he paused again. "Japanese students go to Mahoutokoro, but they start as day students from the age of seven. So if she went there, then there's no way she could go here…"

"The curriculum is that different?" Hermione looked at him, then at her plate, with curiosity. They could hear the gears turning.

"You have no idea." Neville muttered, expression hinting he regretted having this conversation. "Uagadou and Mahoutokoro make our OWL year look like Muggle elementary school."

Hermione looked torn between glee and disappointment. Ron however, seemed to be restraining a laugh.

"And I thought Harry could get some conspiracy theories," he said with a cheerful grin. At least, Harry assumed that was what he said through roast beef and mash.

He didn't really want to know. No one else did either.

The rest of the meal went by fine until Hermione learned house elves had made her meal and refused to finish it. Harry, who was relatively certain he knew what it was like to be a house elf, and had also met Dobby, kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to not eat.

Then, of course, the food vanished, and Professor Dumbledore stepped up to the podium. His eyes twinkled warmly as he looked at them all.

"Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" His voice carried easily across the room and as he looked, he saw someone he hadn't noticed before, a teenager, at best, sitting at one end of the table in shadow. Her chair tipped precariously back as if compensating for a severe lack of height. Her face was smoothly blank, barring the single twitch of an eye. Next to her, a man drunk from a silver hip flask, one electric blue eye whizzing about to look at them all. The thing refused to sit still. Harry, feeling his hefty dinner churn in his stomach, looked away.

"Now, I apologize for keeping you from your warm beds but I would like to keep your attention for just a few moments longer. I wish to remind you that dueling in the corridors is out of bounds as is venturing into the Forbidden Forest. The list of forbidden items can be also found of Mr. Filch's door."

Harry saw the Weasley twins look at each other and share a smirk. He held back a laugh.

"We have some new additions to the staff this year." Harry turned his head back again as the room filled with whispers. "The first is Mister Alastor Moody, who has taken up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

The room, for the most part, broke into applause, causing the man to glare at them all, twitching almost as much as the eye still swirling about.

"How did he convince _Mad-Eye_ out of retirement," Fred roared, laughing from his belly.

"Didn't dad have to go help him this morning?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Can he _teach?"_ At Harry's puzzled look, she added. "He was an Auror in the last war. Half of Azkaban was filled because of him. Unfortunately, he got so paranoid he couldn't stay in the Ministry after it was over. He kept attacking people. Still." She let out a sigh. "He's _wicked_."

Harry examined her for a few moments. She'd dropped off his radar since getting out of the Chamber. He hadn't been involved in helping her recover from the diary. But this past year seemed to have done her good. He… actually hadn't thought about it, but considering he'd had to deal with everything related to his godfather, it was probably good that he hadn't.

"Well since we can't get Professor Lupin back," he said through the roar in the room. "Next best thing, hey?" Snape's revelation spreading across the school and his family friend's subsequent resignation still rankled months later.

Still, he remembered all the older Weasleys discussing him in the morning. This sounded like a health hazard, and he lived with Dudley next door.

Ginny made a face and then let out a snort. "Pretty much."

The room fell silent again when Moody lifted something from the floor and clapped it so hard that they all swore they felt a _shockwave._ The girl beside him didn't even react, barring the unamused eyebrow raised at him. He eyed her in return.

Harry risked a glance at Snape. Seeing the displeasure wrinkling his face, he couldn't help but smile.

Dumbledore chuckled a bit. "I must also introduce, and forgive my potential butchering of the name, Tsukino Sayo, who has been elected as a self-defense teacher and assistant caretaker to the creatures and assistant to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing. Mahoutokoro mourns the loss of one of its finest students. Miss, if you would not mind?"

 _Tsukino?_ Everyone's eyes turned to the little white-haired girl as she straightened in her seat and smiled. A couple of first years shrank at the sight of it.

Only Harry saw the other girl move and was prepared for the loud bang of the rickety chair as it was forcibly set right. Then, the girl with… purple hair? Was that normal?- Crossed the area, going past Dumbledore's podium and down the small set of stairs to face them.

She wasn't first-year small, but she was small in a way Harry felt in his gut like she had eaten once in a while rather than three times a day. She wore a strange, cat-eared hat and a lilac cowl-hooded sweater tied closed over a white shirt and trailing over the skirt and threatening to swallow that too.

"Thank you, sir." She clicked her tongue and the whole room watched her. "Sorry to take up more time," she began, voice quiet. Harry was pretty sure, however, if he was across the hall and out of the school, he could somehow hear her. Her English had a faint accent to it like she'd been speaking it for years but not quite long enough. "My name is Tsukino Sayo. You will learn about my class when you arrive there, as it is required for all seven years. However, Professor Dumbledore has asked me to inform you of the most important details while you are all gathered here, as there was no need to add it to your already costly supply list."

Harry could have sworn he heard Draco Malfoy snort, only for a strange pained whimper to come from the Slytherin table next.

Sayo didn't even glance over. "I will ask you for your first three lessons to find clothes you do not mind getting dirty or ruined. I also request that upon entering the area that you are prepared to surrender your wands and any other pranking material. I fully intend to break them if you do not. From then on, if you choose to continue with the practical lesson, materials will be provided for you. My final request is a warning."

Her posture shifted ever so slightly and Harry felt a sudden, desperate desire to hide under the table.

"If I hear any slurs or insulting language in my class, or witness something in such a vein, even if I do not know what it is that day, I will find out, and you will not lose house points nor give detentions. In my home, we don't believe in that. We believe in real-world consequences." She smiled andd her teeth looked _sharp_. "And you will not like those consequences." Sayo bowed a little where she stood. "I hope to have an enjoyable year with you all."

She walked away, and as soon as she turned on her heel in those strange purple shoes, Dumbledore started to clap. The teachers and then students reluctantly joined him.

"Thank you for telling everyone where you stand," the headmaster said. Sayo, in her seat, inclined her head.

"I think we just got threatened," Ron muttered.

Hermione looked incensed. "She can't harm us, she's a _teacher._ "

"I think she can," Neville whispered. Before anyone could ask where that thought came from, Dumbledore announced,

"And it is my greatest regret to announce that Quidditch has been canceled for the year"

That was all Harry heard before the room again erupted with sound. This was silenced not by Moody but by something Harry thought he missed.

It was the very obvious sound of something being stabbed into the wood of a table. Harry looked around and saw the Slytherin table had as one shifted away from small Tsukino Yuki in a robe much like her sister's, now that he was looking, as she pulled a small blade from where she had stabbed the table.

"Let him talk," she said in a crisp voice that somehow also carried.

This of all things, got Dumbledore to laugh. How had she gotten a knife into the table? Was it one of the school _butter knives_? Harry didn't want to know.

Any chance at a normal year at Hogwarts was dashed. It was official.

"As I was saying," the headmaster continued. "Quidditch has been canceled, but I am happy to announce that Hogwarts has been invited to revive a legendary event in its place: the Triwizard Tournament."

A hush of whispers broke out but it seemed no one wanted to risk the mysterious first year and the butter knife.

"The _what_?" Harry muttered. The wizarding world needed a directory he could look at for all these apparently well known, obscure things.

"Really old tournament," Ron replied, grinning hugely. "For all wizarding students in Europe! It had to stop in the 1790s though. Too many deaths of too many powerful families, dad said." He snorted. "They were hiding this, weren't they? Percy and them. Gits."

There was no malice in his words. Or Harry didn't hear any as he examined the High Table.

"Due to the dangers of the tournament, only anyone who is of age may enter, as decreed by the Ministry of Magic. A thousand galleons, eternal glory, and the cup will be the prize for those three picked by an impartial judge after Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive and place their names. But be warned." His voice grew grave. "If you are in the tournament, you stand alone. So for those of you who are unprepared, I do not recommend placing your name in." He chuckled. "And with that, to bed. Pip pip!"

The Hall roared to life again and as Harry's friends whispered together and chattered along, Harry looked back at the High Table.

Their second new professor was watching them all. As her eyes lightened on Harry, she smiled, a bit less terrifying than the previous one. She inclined her head at him and then turned away.

Harry looked away and raced after his friends.

It was going to be a long year.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three - A Soft Writ_

Tsukino Yuki was tired.

In her home, you did not whisper behind people's backs. In her home, you spoke your mind if you had the power, and if you had to say something stupid without power, you hoped for the best. And besides, being _blind_ was no reason to whisper. Litton had been blind for years, other kids were deaf, some people lost limbs. It was a disability, not the apocalypse.

She could feel these snots looking at her no matter how much they thought they were hiding it too. It was a sensation that came from once having working eyes.

"Yes, I'm blind," she said, walking past them. "I can still hear. I don't miss my sight. I can find my way around within a few days. I'm going to be using my cane until I know how the floors feel and anyone who asks how many fingers I'm holding up will be kicked in the shin. And yes, Sayo is my sister and she meant exactly what she said and so do I. Do not. Test me."

And she stalked past them into the center of the group. They still looked but thankfully didn't whisper. Good, the air was starting to smell like lake water and that was enough to focus on. It meant they were near the dungeons, which was where the potions classes were. Was that actually good for potion making or was it just for aesthetic purposes? It probably made sense for storage but application…?

Everyone was starting to stop, so she slowed her footsteps, emptied herself of curiosity.

"Blood will out," chanted one voice in a drone.

 _Will blood win out?_ The door hissed open and Yuki put it out of her mind. She followed the group into a room with a crackling fire.

"It's so green," she heard someone whisper. She had heard Slytherin was green and silver so why was anyone surprised? It was probably a fellow first year.

Yuki sighed and slipped her cane from her sleeve. It extended with a click and she felt everyone jump into the air. "Sorry," she deadpanned. "I need to find where I'm sleeping and I'd rather be in my bed and not on someone else's. Don't envy someone wanting to throw me."

"You have a speech to hear," drawled a voice. "Or are you too good to hear it because your sister is a teacher?"

Yuki thought this over, weighing the words she could say. "Provide me to a seat, good sir, and politely I will sit and listen better than you tried today."

The person laughed and tapped her elbow with sturdy fingers. "A challenge in you."

"Many," she replied, allowing him to take her by the arm that didn't hold the cane. She tapped about with it as she walked. "Are there many blind ones in Hogwarts?"

"Not like you," the speaker supplied as she lifted her cane to jab in front of her. There was a startled squeak, but no sensation so she had almost hit someone. They'd figured out dodging. Hm. She'd need to be faster than a snail then. "There are people with magical eyes, familiars to light their way but the blind don't tend to last long in these schools. They tend to run out of magic trying to fix it or get killed."

"Do they _really?_ " Her voice, before she controlled it, sounded like the death knells of many an unfortunate old man.

The young man -boy, by _their_ standards, he was more of a young boy- laughed hard. "You sound offended. You can't do magic if you can't aim."

"But there are many ways to aim," she said, feeling a smile trace her mouth. "Perhaps if we get along, and you enjoy my sister's classes enough, I can teach you, Mister…?"

"Zabini." He released her arm, allowing her to wiggle onto surprisingly soft and fluffy cushions. "Call me Blaise."

"Then call me Yuki, so we can spare at least one person from butchering my last name. The woman with the hat did well enough, but I can't risk enough horrible English attempts, Blaise. I have years with you people."

"Noted."

There was a firm, diagonal sound, like metal swiping against metal. The room jumped. Yuki turned her head to the side to see deep forest green made murky by a single black mark. What did that actually mean? This was the second time she had seen two colors overlap like this in a row. Not mesh, but overlap, like the second was trying to eat the first.

She rubbed her forehead. She was technically blind. According to her uncle, there should have been spells and technology that could deal with it. Should have, but this magic was the kind of thing that apparently could not be healed. And if it wasn't for the magic (or as her home referred to it, Soul) , she'd see nothing at all. Which would be great at home.

Here, however, _everything_ had magic. That was great for anyone else.

"Silence," intoned the voice from across the room. "I am Professor Severus Snape. I am the Potions Professor and your Head of House. If you have any problems, you report them to your Prefects, Agatha Fawley and Christian Selwyn and if they are unavailable, our illustrious Head Boy and Girl."

There were a few hisses from around the room. Yuki rolled her eyes. Children.

"If they are unavailable still or there is an emergency, do come to me. I do not recommend bothering with the other Houses, for they are… negative reinforcement."

Yuki had to wonder if the silky drawl came from years of practice or he just saved it up for one speech a year to sound charismatic.

"As Slytherins, this will be your only warning." The room seemed to chill. Perhaps her fellow first years were afraid of something. "Your position is what matters. To the Houses outside of here, you are worth less than dung. Associated with Dark Magic-" She could hear the capital letters, what in the world, were these people really _this bad_? "With obsession, cowardice, and blood, you must adhere to be the best of them. They think you are worthless but you are not. They were be dancing on your hands within years, even those that think themselves _clever."_

 _These sort like to hear themselves talk. He probably has a tragic past too._

"So remember your position. We take care of our own, in this House more than most. This includes all things."

All right, she was done. She began to shuffle off the seat. The boy - Blaise, right, remember the names of your seniors, they were here to use- touched her wrist.

"What are you doing?" His voice was a low, frantic hiss.

"Finding my dorm," she said back. She kept her voice audible. "I'd like to find it before I get trampled."

The silky-voiced man noticed her, or perhaps the cane tapping on the floor. "Something you wish to share, Miss…"

That was supposed to be intimidating, right? All the eyes on her, the smug smirks, the discovery of a chew toy? They'd already forgotten the nice dent she'd put into the table so soon? She'd have to step it up. "I'd like the mad rush of terrified morons to not keep me from finding my bed. Unlike the rest of them, I'm not here to learn that everyone hates me for the color of my uniform and that we should hate them back. I am here to study and learn your magic."

The man was quiet, the black on his arm a little deeper, the green a little lighter. "Is that so?"

"Aye sir, it is, and I cannot do so without the proper amount of sleep. I wake with the sun."

"Then do not let me stop you."

She could see his smirk and didn't rise to it. There were a few sniggers. "I was trying to do it quickly. But I'm glad I have your permission to live here." Yuki tapped her cane a few times more, casting her gaze at the various magics in the room. "Ah. There it is." She twisted her features into a sneer. "Sorry to interrupt." And tapping her cane to find feet and make certain of her path, up she went.

There were more hisses as she passed. She turned her head to the left. Wasn't from the boy with silver-yellow, but the girl to his left. She paused and hissed at them both. Then, she retreated from the warmth of the torches and into the cool of the tunnel area. Her fingers fumbled for the door handles and the wood until-

A series of familiar bumps brushed her fingerpads and she pushed her door open.

"I thought you'd never get here!" cried one voice, soft white, and whining.

"Ssh." Yuki shut the door, containing her relief to have gotten it right the first time. "Sorry, Anya. I was trying to be polite."

"Well that was your first mistake," said the other, black and guileless and cold. "You hate people, Yuyu."

"Work on your nicknames, Stella," Yuki shot back without any heat, finally picking up her wand from her holster on her belt. She flicked it twice at her door, locking it and letting it glow green. "I'm glad they're giving girls their own rooms. It'd be a pain to explain you for three weeks."

Anya and Stella. Her first Digimon, and if she knew anything, her _true_ Digimon partners, opposing cats, dancing around her like stars in the sky. They responded better than any of the dragons she had held or the many digimon of the sea she had tried. She was going nowhere without them at the ready. She just had to hide her digivice properly.

"I was listening to gossiping elves all day," Stella said from where she was on the four-poster bed (Sayo had told her all of what they looked like and where things would likely be.) "Apparently, fewer students are coming every year, sent away or something. And fewer are fit for Slytherin that would be safe."

"Considering the speech out there, I believe it." Yuki tapped until she reached the bed. Her fingers brushed the familiar fluff of her onesie pajamas and her face warmed. "I love my dad," she mumbled, beginning to change.

"Love us too," Anya said, crawling over and beginning to run her claws over Yuki's messy hair. "We did all the unpacking with the help of the elves."

"They wanted to just do it but we wanted to be sure."

Yuki really smiled for the second time today. "You guys are the best," she declared. "Now let's get to bed."

* * *

Sayo waited.

It was roughly ten-thirty in the evening. By now, any younger students would be in point and any pranksters making a fuss. She'd rather be in bed by now, but she knew she had to hang on for just a few minutes more.

Today, her sister had been sorted into Slytherin. Today was her first night. If she hadn't pissed off somebody she wouldn't be the Tsukino Yuki she was now.

She was so proud.

Sayo couldn't help but sigh. Her sweet, cute, slightly sassy sister was gone forever, for the most part. And for the life of her, Yuki wouldn't tell her what had happened. As a matter of fact, she wouldn't tell _anyone._

At least Sayo had eventually decided to be upfront about her issues, what she could. She didn't remember _anything._ Yuki didn't either, she'd been a baby.

Sayo rubbed her eyes. Those memories had something to do with this, she was sure. But she couldn't-

" _You can't keep doing this."_

Nothing other than snatches, thoughts, things.

"You're thinking again."

Sayo sipped her tea, so used to the sudden voice in the room and unable to react to it. "It's how people stay alive, Keiichi."

The ghost materialized properly beside her. "I wouldn't know." His black hair seemed dustier than usual, plain-clothed and clean as ever otherwise. Unlike the ghosts here, he didn't look like he'd died badly, and he seemed to do what he liked. If he wanted to touch something, he really could. It was very strange.

But then, considering Keiichi had been possessing something for what he considered millennia before getting a hold of Yuki, he was entitled to be at least a little strange.

"She mocked her Head of House," Keiichi said before Sayo could ask.

Sayo couldn't help her laugh. "Good. He was _insufferable_. I heard him throughout dinner. It's like someone let Gutts get a degree without poking a hole in his head."

"He is headed this way though." Keiichi didn't laugh. He wasn't fond of laughing much at anything these days. She'd get him to do it eventually since he seemed determined to stick to her like a leech. Especially since…

She shut her eyes, tried not to think of her Digimon exploding like balloons, pierced with singular blows….

Sayo couldn't exactly hold it against him.

There was a knock on her door, slow and halting. It still wanted to be answered, just knock, good goddess.

Sayo tapped the teapot with her wand idly. It was easier than getting up. Not to mention, she had a position to keep. These people gave her looks for getting up to do things like getting more hot water. And she had to play the level-headed teenager who was capable of teaching her 'betters'. "Come in," she called.

Severus Snape swept in. She watched his body, his self-importance containing his self-loathing (because no one who was really confident enough wasn't hiding something), as he walked into the room. "I apologize for… _disturbing_ you." It seemed to take an effort to say even that.

Sayo waved her hand and faked a smile. "I expected whoever had my sister would want to ask me about her tonight. Or complain. Her other teachers did." Except for Koh. But Koh just turned her and her fury and stupidity and frustration back at her. "Tea? It's chamomile."

He regarded her through his matted hair and then sat, picking up her teapot with surprising care. "What a tough material," he mused.

"It has to be," she replied, sipping her mug. "Most of my kind take a lot of time to learn their own strength. There's a lot of frustrated cubs who could break the pots and mugs trying to hold them and then they have shrapnel in their hands and scalding tea on their fingers." She watched his eye twitch at the word "cubs". "Is there a problem?"

"Of course not."

"There never is," Sayo said, adopting her uncle's wise, thoughtful voice. She put her tea down. "So, what did she do? Insult your speech? Leave?"

"Both." His expression relaxed. "She has quite a disregard for decorum."

Sayo resisted a snort. "It's pointless to expect us to try," she said instead. "You aren't intimidating to her. The machinations of most people escape her as being necessary. They bore me, and I am her closest role model, gender-wise and reality wise."

"She's made plenty of enemies."

Sayo did have to laugh this time. "And she'll make more. And then she'll either make them her friends or they'll do something stupid and make them regret crossing her. And then she'll be punished. I've already warned her not to do it."

"Perhaps you should make the message clearer." He sipped his tea, voice unchanging.

 _Oh. We're gonna go there._ Sayo grinned, showing her teeth. "Perhaps you need a new message she could consider listening to."


	4. Chapter 4

_Warnings for violence, bullying_

* * *

 _Chapter Four - Some Things Never Change_

Friday morning dawned a low grey and peppered with a drizzle. The mood inside the castle, however, was exuberant, still whispering about the tournament and the new teachers.

Harry's night had been less… substantial. There was a monster in it but he'd had no idea what it was. It was a strange golden color and almost sharp. But it was nothing he had ever seen before and he hadn't wanted to ask Hermione about it because then she'd worry it was like his scar hurting and the last person he'd mentioned that to had been his godfather and Sirius was probably running up here right now no matter how many letters he sent against it.

So he said nothing about it, and he and his fellow Gryffindors were so busy talking, Hermione had to grab their sleeves to avoid something flying and cutting off their noses. Likely a curse.

And there was the new girl, standing in front of the doors to the Great Hall, surrounded by older Slytherins. She didn't seem remotely concerned. In fact, she was yawning.

"Can I go in?" she said pointedly, eyes moving around to them all and resting on everyone long enough for them all to squirm. "I don't want to send your butts flying into the teachers because you don't have enough brains to make up for them."

One of them - Flint, Harry realized belatedly, what was he doing here, he should have graduated?- stepped closer to her. "We just want to make sure you understand your place, first year."

Yuki moved herself to face him and right before Harry's eyes, she pulled out her wand, waving it like you would a conductor's baton. "You think you can do that?" There was no challenge in those words, only curiosity. "When your head can't." She smiled. "Whoever puts me in my place has to marry me, and no one's yet tried and lived long enough. You think you can?"

"DIscord in the snake den," Ron muttered. Hermione elbowed him and made to go forward, but then, in the matter of blinking, Marcus Flint was on the floor.

In the next moment, he was screaming in pain.

Yuki climbed off of him, looking thoughtful. "Might want to be careful where you step, senpai," she said, the last word escaping all of their understanding entirely. "You're lucky this is smooth stone. You could have broken something."

She pushed open the door to the Great Hall and called, voice suddenly terrified, "Professors! Flint! He… he fell! He was trying to hit me and- I, i think he hurt something!"

Someone left the table Harry was sure, but they weren't as fast as Professor Tsukino, who was already examining the now whimpering Flint with thoughtful eyes. She looked at the other seventh years. "Help me roll him over, kay? His knee's dislocated." She glanced at Yuki. "Nasty 'fall', aye?"

Her voice was as soft as the night before, and something in it made the boys scramble to obey.

"Yuki, _matte_." the woman said before turning away. Yuki's fearful face turned into a scowl but she slumped against the open doors as more people were crowding closer. _Is that how you say wait?_ Harry thought, quite insanely.

Professor Tsukino tapped her wand thoughtfully. "Hush," she told Flint, who was looking at her with wide eyes and shame flushing his face. "You'll be fine." Putting her wand back in her rolled up sleeves, she bent under and heaved the taller boy up into both arms. "Follow," she said quietly and like the other weighed nothing at all, she carried him away. Her sister trotted after, looking like a sulky eleven-year-old. It was nothing like Dudley, who whined for more presents. But it was still disconcerting.

Everyone, even the remaining Slytherins, looked at each other.

"We all… saw that right?" Ron managed to say. "A little girl just uh, knocked Flint to the ground, right?"

A few people nodded, even as Snape made it to them. Nostrils flaring, eyes furious, he glowered at them all. He did not speak, merely swept past them in a rage.

One of the Slytherins sniggered. "She's gonna get expelled!"

"First badmouthing Snape-" began another.

"Can I get breakfast?" demanded a third, dark skin and dark eyes sweeping over their smirking fellow snakes. It was one Blaise Zabini, looking bored "Rather than gossip like old bats?" And he strode past them.

Harry and his fellows did the same, all of them looking at each other with complete confusion.

What had _happened_ last night?

* * *

"She attacked one of her fellow students."

Sayo was going to smack Yuki later. She wasn't surprised this had happened. But now, really? At breakfast? She was starting to like smoked salmon (she hadn't had it fresh in years) and now she had to break up her sister breaking a fellow's kneecap. She had told them dislocated but the crack had been just quiet enough that they had missed it. It was easily repairable at that.

"And all of them were threatening her," Sayo pointed out in that same mild voice she'd used on Snape the night before. He was going to hate her by the end of this school year, she would make sure of it. "Because of the rules enforced by you that you admitted to me before. You gave an inclination that snakes take care of their own, and so she did."

"She could have dueled. Minor curses and jinxes, perhaps."

 _She's used her wand for under twenty-four hours legally you daft ass._ She knew that was a lie because Koh had fiddled with magic as much as he could with her but still.

The nurse looked at Snape like he'd grown a second head. "Are you _encouraging_ rule-breaking professor?"

"Rule-breaking you're used to," he drawled.

Sayo only glanced at Yuki over the head of the sniffling seventh year. What were these kids? "Yuki. _Nani_."

" _Nandemonai_ ," she replied and Sayo rolled her eyes.

" _Doshite ka._ "

There was something a little satisfying about seeing her sister just slump like a marionette when she got caught. " _Dakara-_ "

"English," Professor Snape intoned. "For the rest of us if you please."

"Interrogating her in English gives her opportunities to lie that I can't catch her in," Sayo replied without looking away from the nurse's work. It was pretty cool to watch for people like her. "But if you wish. Were they threatening you Yuki?"

"Five boys surrounding me and saying they wanted to make sure to show me my place sounded like a threat." Yuki crossed her arms, looking somehow more petulant than she ever did at nine.

"We did not," Flint slurred. Considering the glazed look in his eyes and the way his head was distinctly focused on his leg, it wasn't very convincing.

"Your memories say you did and you let us look at them." Sayo shrugged. "Since we can't have Snape punishing his snakes without looking bad and since Yuki being expelled goes against what we were called here for in the first place, she'll be punished by…" She tapped her fingers to her cheek. "Taking three of my shifts in the hospital wing for the next three weeks."

"Nee-chan!" Sayo had the early shifts, brewing potions, restocking and changing linen. Yuki wouldn't have cared but… it could cut into her training time, limited her breakfast, make her more susceptible to these morons which would make it longer.

Sayo raised an eyebrow. "I told you that we're not allowed to hit them. Or put them in mortal peril."

"He tried to attack me!" Yuki said, hands on her hips and cane against her shoulder. " Not my fault he tripped and fell flat on his face."

Sayo shrugged. "We could get Filch to chain you up and whip you if you want."

Yuki pouted but dug her heels in. "Fine."

Sayo glanced at the matron nurse, who was giving Flint once last look over. "Is that a problem, Miss Pomfrey?"

"Heavens no," the woman said immediately. "If she's half as good as you are, We'll be prepared for months to come."

Sayo ignored her sister's pout fading into concern. "Any problems then, Professor?" she said to Snape now, smiling at him.

He only nodded, his expression a look of withering distaste."

Sayo smiled. "Great! Glad to hear it. Now, I've got a class in half an hour. I need to take my leave."

And she did, Yuki scurrying after her.

As soon as they were out there, Yuki sped up her strides, Sayo taking no care to let her keep up. Her sister would anyway. "Did you have to do that, Yuki? In public?"

"Not really," Yuki admitted. "But I really did try to avoid everyone this morning."

"Did you have to walk out of the speech too?"

"It was some blowhard nonsense on how the House of Slytherin is the only one that matters and no one else will think of you except as anything but dirt but you're better than them." Yuki let out a snort. "Well, if we're so much better then why are we hated. Makes you wonder."

Sayo reached out and took her hand, squeezed it in silence. Yuki looked up at her and a tremulous smile touched her lips.

"Too close to home," Yuki finally said and Sayo nodded, a gentle smile crossing her own.

She let go and patted her sister on the head. "Try to control yourself. These are fragile little things."

Yuki let out a snort. "I make no promises I don't have to break. You're just as bad."

Sayo didn't even reply. She was worse. She knew that.

But this mission was for Yuki. She could _not_ keep this up.

* * *

By the time History of Magic had ended, Harry had forgotten the entire thing from this morning. Most of them had. Binns put everyone except Hermione and a few Ravenclaws to sleep. He was just that soporific. Not to mention he hadn't had any more dreams of a golden monster. Still, he'd never thought he'd be so happy to be in Charms as he was today. Even though it was difficult, near impossible to do these charms at least he was doing something.

OF course, he then heard someone whisper. "You all hear Flint tried to beat up that first year?"

"Yeah, he fell," whispered another. "Idiot."

"I heard she hit him hard enough to shatter his knee."

"What? He fell. I saw it. She only moved to get out of his way."

"She jumped. I saw."

"Liar."

Harry turned to his friends. Ron was waving his wand in a vain attempt to get the Summoning Charm correct. Hermione paused in her wandwork, looking him over.

"Are you alright, Harry?"

Ron glanced over at him and Harry quickly schooled his face into something better.

"Sorry, I just, er…." He pointed to the side. Hermione frowned.

"Well they don't have to sound so happy about it," she muttered, banishing her cushion back to the pile. "Honestly those bone shards could have done much worse damage for Madam Pomfrey to fix."

"Oh come on, Mione," Ron said, managing to summon a cushion a little closer. "You can't say the guy didn't deserve it. He and his goonies were attacking their own Housemate. _A first year_."

Hermione made a face and Harry could see the war on her face between the injustice of ganging up on a kid and the disturbing speed of how quickly his kneecap had been dislocated. Or that it had happened at all.

"But, even still." Hermione decided as the bell rang and the cleaned up. "We probably shouldn't be happy about it."

She didn't elaborate but neither of them had needed her to. _If that girl could do that to her house, what would she do to anyone else?_

They headed to lunch, caught in the crowd.

"You're going to eat this time? Ron asked, a teasing grin on his face. Hermione grunted at him. She had refused breakfast to protest the labor of house elves.

"There are better ways to protest, " she decided.

" _And_ you were hungry," Ron added, still grinning.

Harry rolled his eyes at them, smiling himself.

Lunch was peaceful for all of five minutes until every single sixth year lurched their way into the Great Hall. They seemed to droop as they walked. Even the Weasley twins looked tired. However, _their_ eyes gleamed with something.

"Bloody hell, did you guys get run over by a hippogriff?" Ron didn't get up, craning his neck over his friends to look the twins over.

Fred and George shared grins. "Why, dear brother," began one.

"Could you possibly be concerned-"

"About our well-being? That's mighty-"

"Nice of you, but there must be something-"

"You want."

"Whatever could it be?" They chorused together as Angelina Johnson sat her bag on their open seat, rubbing her eyes.

Ron's ears were already turning red. "You look like shite, course I'm worried."

"Aw, we're touched, Ronniekinns-"

"Possibly soppy really, but we're fine, we just-"

"Had the new professor today and-"

"She's insane," Alicia replied, interrupting them as she ran to throw roast potatoes on her plate. "Wood would have loved her. She makes Quidditch practice look like hopscotch." She swallowed and managed to smile. "It was incredible."

"Sounds awful," Ron muttered, going back to his food.

Hermione was quivering a little. "This sounds like a more physical version of Divination," she grumbled. "No books, no syllabus, just bring clothes you're not afraid to ruin…"

"Oh it's nothing like Divination," Angelina replied, throwing back her braids. "We're just not allowed to talk about it. Physically."

"Did you have to make an Unbreakable Vow or something?" Ron asked.

Harry opened his mouth to ask how the hell one of those worked, but Alicia let out a snort.

"No. You just wouldn't believe us if we did."

Hermione almost let out a laugh herself before she looked around the Great Hall. Her eyes widened as the professor walked into the room from another door. Unlike the students, the only indication of something amiss was the missing sweater. Which was getting a lot of eyes? But why?

Some Slytherin were sneering, but that might have been more because of the younger sister sitting placidly at her table and eating smoked fish. The rest were staring at the young teacher, unabashed.

Harry didn't quite see the big deal. She wasn't exactly showing skin. "Guess the sister didn't get expelled."

"Of course not," Hermione replied. She was watching the professor herself, but with a critical eye. "She had to keep her sister involved, even if that's a whole lot of nepotism. But either way, it was self-defense…" she trailed off, eyes narrowed.

"What is she wearing?"

"The Mahoutokoro uniform," Neville replied. Like Harry, he was also nonplussed. "See? The sash for the belt there is close to grey. That means she's really skilled."

Hermione frowned at him. "Is the outfit supposed to shimmer like that?"

Neville tilted his head. "I don't see it."

Ron poked his head up. "Me either."

Harry looked for himself and for a second time, his eyes met purple. The professor's lips quirked and then she turned to Moody.

Harry felt a shiver of discomfort but looked again. "Yeah," he said. There was a strange shimmer in the air. "I think it's just the sun," he said.

Because, and he couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn that the shimmering light had moved.

That wasn't normal.


	5. Chapter 5

_Warning for mental breakdowns_

* * *

 _Chapter Five - At the End of the Day_

"You brought this upon yourself, you know."

"Blaise, I know you're my __senpai__ , but shut up."

Yuki was laying on one of the couches with her arm over her face. Blaise was a bit to the side of her, she could feel it. He was probably scratching at a piece of parchment.

"Is a __senpai__ a good thing?" She could hear him smirking. Did people learn that from birth here? "For all I know, it might be an insult."

"It means senior," Yuki supplied. "It's a term of respect when directed to you."

"I see." He chuckled. "Then that implies you might need to consider listening to me, correct?"

"It would," Yuki started. "If I cared. Which… I do not."

"Why not?" Blaise was smiling now. His voice had turned from amused to interest once again. "You'll be here with us for a long while. Why make so many enemies?"

Yuki listened to the bustle around her as students prepared for dinner. She could feel the homework weighing down her back, held in the pressure to find her room and seek out silence, the desire to eat, __eat__ , _****eat****_ until they filled her and brought silence almost too heavy into her ears.

Finally, she said, "No point in pretending I won't be disappointed or disappointing. I'm poor, not pure blooded by any standard. I'm blind and none of you have interacted with a blind person. And you come from money. The Slytherins in power have money and prestige and all who matter to them carry those traits." She sat up. "I'm sure there's more to you and yours, but right now my House is where I am because I am ambitious and clever and self-serving and proudly so, not because I am rich and pure and __Dark__. Not because my house surrounds its own to bully them into line. You know what they call that at home?" She shrugged her shoulders. "They call it not rocking the boat. In my family, we call it unnecessary."

Yuki hopped up from the couch. "Anyway, you won't like me after your first lesson with my sister, __senpai__. Your neutral classmates don't. Good night."

She left the Common Room with anger in her throat and guilt in her stomach.

When she reached her door, she paused. A bitter laugh wound out of her throat. "Seriously?"

All these jinxes and curses and for what? A blind girl with nothing to prove? She pulled out her wand and set to work as her uncles had taught her.

But then, this was what she wanted. An outcast Slytherin would be folded into the __Potter Protection Program__ by proxy. It was almost pathetic how well she knew that would be the case, on how she depended on the kindness of the chivalrous. She didn't want to depend on Sayo's attempts to destroy the self-destructive ways of thinking brought upon by this society.

After all, people didn't change just because you told them to, or if you gave them logic and reason. They changed when they had no other choice.

Door free of problems, she braced herself and pushed it open.

Her cats greeted her, laying on the bed.

"Yuki, you're crying." Anya shut the door with a single bound.

Yuki sighed. "I'm sure I am."

"Did they hurt you?" Stella's voice was murderous at the drop of a pin, really.

Yuki laughed. "No, I just hurt myself."

* * *

Yuki did her best to avoid her house as a whole for the rest of the weekend. She went to meals immediately after serving detentions, did her homework in her room, wandered the grounds and the library until late.

She did not visit her sister until Sunday.

Sayo's quarters smelled like soft earth and freshly blooming berries. And parchment. And metal, wait.

"You're supposed to __knock__ , Yuki." Sayo's voice had no heat, only the low churr of amusement that reminded her vaguely of their mother in her good moments, few and far between as they had been. "A student could have died."

"Can't have that," Yuki replied with a sigh, shutting the door and tossing her sister back the knife. "What are you doing?"

"Charts." Sayo let out a snort. "I've gotten seventh and sixth years already so I'm doing the data up so I can see it."

"Can I see it?" Yuki dared to say.

Sayo did snort. "No. You can't unless Directory gets you the spell."

"Can you read it?"

"Too many numbers." Sayo shook her head, the purple sway of her soul warm and inviting and painful even now, even when all she could do was hear it. "It's not good though. Six or seven years of limited activity, followed by only directing power through one limb… "

Yuki could only imagine. They had always been told Soul had to start throughout the whole body. If it could only be channeled in one place, a person got dependent on that one place. And if that place was destroyed…

And with such a limited amount of physical activity… Wait.

"Quidditch doesn't count?"

Sayo sighed. "Not enough of them do it. And from what I can tell it's only good for endurance. There is some muscle here but it's…"

Yuki waited, guessing her sister's face was twisting with annoyance. She sat in the chair as a teacup sat warm on its saucer.

"It's like a stopgap, more than a consistent strength," Sayo finished.

Yuki frowned. "Are you supposed to be telling me these kids are weak as hell?"

Sayo walked past and flicked her nose. "Not as your teacher. As your higher officer, you need to know your materials."

Yuki let out a snorting giggle. "Materials… that's mean."

"With you not using Slytherin properly, what else can I do?" Sayo snorted. "You know how to make enemies better than friends."

"You're one to talk," Yuki accused. "You bit Newton."

"Biting Newton was like a rite of passage. Either you bit him or he burned you."

Yuki huffed. "They're all __snooty__ sis."

Sayo raised an eyebrow. "Then you fit right in."

"Nee-chan!" Yuki wilted a little before pressing on. "You know what I mean."

"That doesn't make this okay." Sayo finally sat down, the nervous energy of her Soul fluttering more by her sides. "If you hadn't done this at home, it'd be different. But…" Sayo paused. "How we did things at home won't work here. I was here the whole time, trust me I've __tried__." She shook her head. "I'm not saying __submit__ , I'm saying you need to be clever because you __are__ clever. Not this meat cleaver of an idiot who derails everything. That's me."

 _ _You are not, you're teaching these people everything you know and they're already learning it, you are not.__ Yuki shook her head, frustration and tears filling her face. "You don't understand."

"Neither do you." Sayo had kept her temper, even as her soul hopped about with magic at its crooked edges. "You're not going to be able to avoid facing things forever by hurting them, Yuki." Sayo reached and refilled their teacups. "If I can't, and I don't even remember them, you don't have a chance."

Yuki rubbed her eyes. "But I __want__ to."

Sayo sighed. "And I want to know I'll live past twenty-one but I don't."

"Don't say that!" Yuki felt the words choke in her throat. "Don't say that! I… I…" __I can't worry about that too.__ "That's not fair!"

"This is our __job__ Yuki." The flighty power was now crouching, preparing to pounce. "This is what a Union Tamer does, what one is. That's why I'm here."

Yuki wanted to shout that protecting Harry Potter was her mission but it wasn't. It was titled hers and she would work it but ultimately her sister was able to snatch it like a hawk because every medical report said,

 _ _Tsukino Yuki is unstable and unfit for duty.__

And getting her here was more out of convenience of age than actual use.

Union Tamers fought to the end, even to escape. That gave them a low life expectancy. That gave them little hope but a lot of supplies, food, resources. And if they lived long enough to get other skills…

Well. Not many did. There were already so few, so they had taken her, eyesight gone and temper raging. They'd given her to the most absurd tamer they had and let him turn her into a rookie in a matter of weeks.

Yuki, sitting there and choking on the possibility of being friendly with these people, these people who had __no idea__ of what was happening to people in her own present day, realized something:

"I can't do this," she murmured. "All of this, together. I can't."

Sayo only hugged her. She didn't agree or disagree.

"Too late now."

It was. She was here now.

* * *

Harry had a headache.

The weekend had just been weird from the get-go. Malfoy had been stupid enough (though he'd gotten what he deserved, the prat) and he'd nearly jeopardized Sirius' freedom over a single head twinge. Then again, had he ever been steered wrong?

To cap it all, the lack of official Quidditch for the year meant he couldn't have a leisurely fly around the pitch, as he'd found out this morning. He clutched his Firebolt to his arm a little tighter. He glowered at the ground.

 _ _Might as well go and do homework.__ It was that or a late night with Ron and Hermione. He didn't mind that, except it was the first weekend. They didn't even have all of their homework yet. It was… it didn't seem worth it.

Someone sniffled. It was quiet, but to Harry who had grown up surrounded by creaking floorboards and things shattering and knowing what it was from outside of a room, it was fairly noisy. "Who's there?"

He didn't mean to snap but there was a low hiss of dislike and dismay in response anyway. "Did no one teach you how to handle a spooked animal, Potter?"

The transfer student? At her words, Harry found himself slowing down, stepping a bit more cautiously. She could be playing him. She'd done a pretty interesting job for the teachers Friday, considering there had been so many witnesses. She could jump out and bust his kneecaps.

She snorted and it was wet. "I'm taking the piss, Potter. I'm not going to do anything."

"Your sister hear you talk like that?" He said before he could stop himself.

He reached her, sitting in a small alcove by a window, a tissue and her bag on her lap. She didn't raise her head, eyes pointedly looking at the wall.

Tsukino Yuki's eyes rolled, which was very disturbing, and she shifted back a little. "She's saying the same things, you just can't tell because of the English she's using." She rubbed at her eyes. "Were you flying?"

"How did you know?" Harry gripped his Firebolt a little harder.

"Your broom gives off your magic like your wand. It's about the same awareness but limited usage. So less magic." Tsukino let out a noise like a chuff. "I can see magical energy. It's all I can see anymore."

Harry couldn't help it. He sat down in the space she had left. "Anymore? You mean… uh, you could?"

"Usually what the expression means." She remained deadpan. "I could see up until a few months ago. Thanks to my sister, I'm here to keep the rest of me."

Harry nodded to himself. Then, slowly, a realization struck him. "Hogwarts must be terrible." Hermione had shown him in Hogwarts: A History when they were trying to understand how a troll could have gotten let in in their first year. The whole castle was covered in magic. Everyone here __was__ magic, there were magical plants, magical animals, everything was coated in it. It would be like suddenly being able to see clearly and not getting any relief when you blinked.

Tsukino snorted. "You're the first student to notice. Congratulations."

Harry felt his face burn, partially with irritation. "Can't imagine why."

Tsukino rolled her eyes again. "You can say I'm a terrible person, Potter. My fellows have said it. It'll be funnier to hear it from you."

Harry opened his mouth to speak. He paused. "You're doing this on purpose."

"Give the Boy-Who-Lived a gold star!" She waved her hand. "Gryffindors should be known for their wit, not their bravery!" She scoffed. "Of course I'm doing it on purpose, you ponce dunce. And my sister scolded me for it." Tsukino made a face. "Like she can talk."

"It's nice that she worries about you," Harry blurted out, for lack of anything better to say. __It's nice you have someone to worry about you.__ He had Sirius now, sure, but he was still a fugitive. He couldn't exactly sit Harry down over tea about the Dursleys and their bullshit.

Yuki smiled and like that first night, it was soft and sad and knowing. "It is. She'll worry about you too and anyone who catches her eye. It's what she does. She mothers and hens and stuff."

Harry sputtered and got a laugh, full-on. The teacher was barely older than __he was__. That would be just weird.

"You'll see come Tuesday. That's when the fourth-years go. I heard Malfoy complaining about it."

Harry couldn't help rolling his eyes. "I don't think he's ever gotten dirty in his life until he got turned into a ferret the other day."

She sat up, turning in his direction. "He got turned into a __ferret__?"

Harry couldn't help but smile as he regaled the tale.

By the time an hour or so passed, the enigmatic first year told him quite bluntly to "use my first name, or I will break your broom."

It was the nicest conversation he'd had with a Slytherin in years.


	6. Chapter 6

_Warning for implied harm to minors, threats, slurs, and fear exercises_

* * *

 _Chapter Six - Drained Dry_

Monday was almost forgettable aside from everyone talking about Moody. But even that was a dull murmur. The first and third years had had their other mysterious classes by now and even they weren't spilling the beans on what happened there. All that happened was the Creevey brothers skittering about like excitable puppy dogs and most of the first years feeling positively buoyant.

"I can do something in _this_ class!" Dennis had announced, exhausted but happy. "The professor showed me that I have something I can _do_!"

The sound of a student in academic danger instantly made Hermione turn from her SPEW tirade (that was already being ignored) to be concerned.

Yet Dennis Creevey did not waver against the tempest that was Hermione being concerned. He merely said, "You'll see tomorrow!"

And so after a quick lunch the next day, the fourth years made their way to the east wing of the school. The Hufflepuffs made their way after and soon the Ravenclaws. Slytherin slouched behind, looking at one another with varying expressions of distaste and fear.

"How the bloody hell is she going to teach all of us at once?" Ron muttered. He glared back at the Slytherins, Malfoy in particular. Malfoy only sneered back. It wasn't much good, considering how pale he was. All Harry could think of was Care of Magical Creatures last year.

Hermione made a face. "Probably going to threaten us to behave. Or expects us all to drop out so she'll have to teach basically no one."

"Geez, 'Mione," Seamus teased. "Never heard you so down and out about a teacher before."

"She should still be _in school_ ," Hermione retorted, dark cheeks flushing. It was true. They'd never heard her doubt a teacher, not even Binns to his face, or Lockhart. Even the suspicious looks on Shape were after he'd done plenty beforehand. She thought better of teachers than she did herself. "And that speech…"

Harry said nothing. He thought of Yuki, who he hadn't mentioned talking to anyone yet, and how Sayo'd given her sister a scolding. He thought of how everyone seemed excited and tired. It was probably a higher stakes gym class.

He reached the door of the required classroom first. His lips quirked. It really _was_ almost like Care of Magical Creatures all over again. He knocked.

The door opened and Professor Tsukino appraised them for a moment. Then a small smile passed over her lips. "Come in, take a seat on the ground. Leave your book bags by the door, wands in the box to your left. Outer robes can be sat upon if you so choose."

She turned away to walk back inside and Terry Boot (or Harry thought that was him) shouted. "We have to give up our wands?"

The professor didn't turn back. "Aye. That or you run the risk of breaking them. If you feel it's beneath you, you can take a D now and not come back. And carry that D for the rest of your years here."

They all looked at each other. Then, Harry took a deep breath and did as he was told.

The first thing Harry noticed as he stepped further into the room was that there were no desks or chairs. Not even the professor had a desk. She was already seating herself on the ground sans her outer robe, on a hillier patch of earth. Everything was covered in light greenery and Harry found he couldn't see where the classroom ended. A soft breeze blew inside and there seemed to be some facsimile of sunlight.

"Don't try to hide your wand in your sleeve, by the way, it's going to fall out by the time you're done today and you will step on it." She pulled out her wand and flicked it twice. Parchment formed from nowhere and glowed, quill floating in front of it. She flicked her wand a few more times as more fourth years filed in. Harry decided to sit closer to her, settling on his robes. His old Dudley castoffs felt all the more obvious now, tied tight and still drooping.

"What are you wearing, Potter?" Malfoy guffawed. "Elephant skin?"

"Better than ferret ears," he shot back without looking, face flushing a little. Malfoy colored.

"Wand away," Professor Tsukino reminded him before they could continue, expression still that same inscrutable look. Malfoy scowled at her but did as he was told.

What was she looking at? Harry turned to follow her eyes, watching the four houses clump together in their groups. A few, like the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, bled over into friends in other houses. Almost all of the Slytherins sat near the door. Blaise Zabini, shutting the door behind him, strode to the front after leaving behind his wand and sat firmly on Hermione's other side without a word. He didn't even react to Hermione's aghast, surprised look and merely looked at the teacher expectantly.

Professor Tsukino rose to her feet then, her diminutive height barely enough to break over their heads even now. "Thank you," she said and stepped back. Something began to form before their eyes just to her left

"A… television set?" Harry said, staring outright. Many of the purebloods looked utterly baffled.

The professor smiled again. "No, but close." She regarded the room. "My name is Tsukino Sayo. I ask, for the sake of my eardrums that you call me professor or my given name as the weeks go on. It's easier to pronounce. Welcome to fourth-year Self-Defense. Officially, that is all you will be learning. Unofficially, you could consider it a supplement to Care of Magical Creatures, though such would be offensive to those you may meet."

The class erupted into sound until she raised her hand. "I will answer your questions after we get started. You need to be aware of your first three class periods here. Remember this is a double period and pace yourself accordingly for example."

She paused and the strange screen began to fill with small, crisp writing. Then a second piece of parchment began to pass over the students. "Write your name on the sheet please. I will do this for the first four weeks."

She straightened. "The course aims for this class are the following: to expand your horizons for post-education, to diversify your opportunities to learn, and to ensure your survival. This means you need to learn the ideologies of your peers, and not just what you _think_ they are. This means you will learn more ways to fight rather than just to wave a piece of wood. This means you will have to do things you are not prepared for and don't like. First and foremost will be breaking your adherence to your wands and on just magic."

"What, are you suggesting we use our _fists_?" Malfoy didn't even raise his hand.

"Misters Crabbe and Goyle seem fond of that by your name, Mister Malfoy according to student records," Professor Tsukino replied. She actually shrugged her shoulders. "But surviving to live another day is not pretty or elegant or for those who are weak-hearted." She didn't sound proud. She sounded… disinterested. Like this was just repeating something she had done a thousand times before.

Someone looked like they wanted to laugh but fell silent. Malfoy sat back, glaring at her.

The professor nodded and continued. "For these next two weeks, as required by Madam Pomfrey, you will be getting a health assessment. Today's will be a physical. I am to determine your limits in regards to exercise, flexibility, stamina, weight, et cetera, as well as your eating habits, sleeping habits, blood type, current physical condition as a whole, the strength of your five senses, and the like. Next week will be a mental assessment, reflecting on body language, emotional state, stresses, traumas, goals and dreams and so on. The third week you will get your results back with goals and possibilities for you to consider over the course of the year. The third week will also be the first part of the supplementary lesson. At the end of that lesson, you will be allowed to quit the class if you so desire."

Hermione raised her hand before the class could explode. "Why?"

Tsukino raised an eyebrow and then looked at them all. "Why what, Miss Granger?"

 _Someone gave her the list of the problem kids,_ Harry couldn't help but think.

"Why would we be given express permission to drop the class? And why does this class require a physical compared to others?"

"Never thought I'd agree with the mudblood," muttered someone in the back. Hermione winced and Ron's ears began to turn pink.

"Mudblood?" Tsukino repeated, expression thoughtful. "What use is there in calling her that when you agree with her?" She looked at Hermione, whose face was twisting with hurt. "Who spoke that word?"

A reedy looking boy raised his hand. Tsukino gestured for him to step forward. He did, hands in carefully sewn pockets.

"Name?"

"Theodore Nott." He tried to look down at her. Physically, it was possible.

Tsukino sighed. "I see." She twirled her wand. "Go get your wand from the box, Mister Nott."

Nott glanced behind him. "For what, Professor?"

Tsukino smiled. "I want you to try and stun me. Use the skills you already have. I won't use my wand." She, to prove it, set it dangerously behind her ear.

The weedy boy looked at her askance, but turned to obey. They all watched him walk over to the box she had kept by the door.

And then the class watched him get knocked into the grass with a yelp. Their professor had her knee on his back, his wand arm twisted at a painful angle. Her other hand pressed his face into the dirt.

"Yield?" Tsukino offered. Nott nodded furiously and she got off of him. She turned back to them, holding him up by the arm and then drawing him right in front of her. "I have a shield," she declared. "Pure blood, an only child based on current records, likely a pretty penny of money as a hostage if worth it to the family. None of you have your wands. And if you did you would risk a student's life without decent aim. What will you do in this situation?"

The entire class started to shout and mutter amongst themselves.

"You won't do anything," Parkinson tried. "You're a teacher!" Her voice was trembling and Nott didn't look much better. He was shaking, face gone pasty.

Tsukino smiled to the side of Nott's head. "I can break his arms and legs," she continued, as if Pansy hadn't spoken. "I can bash his head into the floor and kill him. It's hard, but not too hard. Now, what would you do?"

"Rush you," Harry threw out, thinking quickly. "There are more of us than you. We all could manage to get him free and you incapacitated. Or cause a distraction while some people go for wands."

"Call a teacher," Ernie McMillan added. "Get help."

Tsukino didn't react, not until Ron spoke up thoughtfully. "Nothing."

Everyone looked at him, even Hermione, horrified.

Ron, however, was looking right at the teacher. "There's nothing we can do. We don't know how strong you are or if the door is open. We don't know if we're fast enough to grab you before you hurt him. We don't… we don't like each other enough to work outside of our groups. Most of us don't have a reason to help a Slytherin, especially someone who called the smartest witch in our year the M-word."

Harry saw Nott's face turn chalk white and cold dread filled his stomach.

Ron was getting into it now, nodding like he did when he was winning at chess and it was actually _hard_. "There's too many people, we'd trip over each other. Most of us haven't fought for our lives before. Seeing someone in danger will cause us as a group to freeze or snap or panic. And turn on each other. The only one who could do something is maybe Harry, Mione, or me and if the teacher's strong enough and fast enough to get to Nott while his back is turned, pin him down, and pull him up, there's no way Harry by himself would be quick enough to stop her. It'd be the same even if we have our wands." He paused, ears turning pink. "Did I… Did I get that right, Professor?"

Tsukino remained blank faced. Then she smiled at him and let Nott go from her grip, patting him down and making sure of no bruising. "There you go," she told him. "Sorry about all that. You left the opportunity open, I'm afraid. Back to your seat."

Nott bolted, eyes seemingly frozen wide.

"Sit," Tsukino ordered. The few students who had jumped to their feet when Theo had been grabbed sat. The room was silent.

The inscrutable look on her face was now narrow eyes, a thin mouth. She pulled out her wand.

"Five points to Slytherin for handling a stressful situation with remarkable poise for your age," she said, voice dry. "And five points to Gryffindor for recognizing reality." She exhaled. "This room has nothing to do with blood purity, not with Houses or scores or wealth. In this room, we deal with life and death and surviving and falling. Why I told you on the first night that these slurs were forbidden was for this exact reason. You all have become your own enemy. No Slytherin will be able to work with any others, not even the most optimistic, and the Slytherins hate the idea of working with them in turn. You all are your own weaknesses as a group. Why would any of you save anyone who called you names and insulted your accomplishments? Why would any of you save the life of someone who mocked everything that mattered to you just because it doesn't matter to them? And that doesn't go for Slytherin alone. All of you have that flaw."

A lump swelled up in Harry's throat.

Tsukino nodded and continued. "Furthermore, Mister Weasley is correct. He and his friends have faced dangers, Mister Potter more directly. But his form would not be strong enough to handle me in combat. With a wand, the chances would increase just enough to balance out the difficulty of aiming around a squirming hostage. Furthermore, it took too long for you to get to your feet. You wouldn't be able to stop me from doing what I liked until you got up and were armed. I could have been gone by then. And who would have believed you if you managed to escape the room, who would you have gotten to in time. I'm smaller than most of you and, as Miss Parkinson said, a teacher. Why would I harm you?"

The room was dead silent. They all looked at each other.

Tsukino exhaled. "The real world doesn't care how pure your blood is. That is a _human_ concern. No more, no less. It will do you no good in this classroom, and one of your dark curses will work on you just the same. That is why you are here to learn self-defense. Because if you all know a spell to disarm someone from the age of twelve, how useful will you all be in a scenario where that can happen often and easily done by the making of your own curriculum?"

"Hence why, once you see your limitations, if you do not feel you can handle it based on them, you may drop the course. There is no use in teaching the unwilling."

Tsukino looked at Hermione. "Does that answer your questions, Miss Granger? And do you wish for an apology from Mister Nott?"

Hermione chewed on her lip. Harry could almost hear the gears in her head turning furiously. "No, ma'am," she said, taking a deep breath. "He's fine. And thank you, that… that explanation was satisfying."

Tsukino bowed. Then she waved her wand and started to read. "Now… to business."

Harry Potter left that class two hours later with a churning stomach and an exhaustion he hadn't felt since Dudley chased him onto the roof of his elementary school.

He wasn't sure how he felt about it.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** _Note for future, past, and current readers, if you think Sayo made a mistake there, well, you're right! That was not a very teacher appropriate action. This, however, is also the school where Umbridge made people write in blood, you were allowed to put seventeen-year-olds in a death tournament, some idiot locked a giant snake under the school, and people get curses cast on them and an eleven-year-old murders a professor. In the grand scheme of things, this is a very minor issue. Will it become major? Mayyybeee.

Anyway, please drop a comment it always helps me out!


	7. Chapter 7

_Warning for violence, trauma, magical illness/sensory overload._

* * *

 _Chapter Seven - The Color Red_

Blaise had never seen Draco so silent before.

Draco was usually loud. Sometimes belligerent surely, but mostly loud and used to power. He made his points clear, his position clear. If you doubted it, you wished you were dead. Or you were more powerful, but nobody spoke about that.

This Draco was silent, expression stormy and exhausted.

Every fourth year gave him a wide berth as much as possible. Even the Gryffindors who hated him so much, but that could be argued as due to simple exhaustion. Following that display of clear superiority, the professor had proceeded to drive them into the ground. They had run and run, done jumping jacks and push ups, stretches and sit ups. Anything that could be considered physical exertion she had done to them in small bits. And to any non-quidditch player, any non-pro duelist, it was like your first time swimming after not doing it in years.

And she had not threatened them once afterwards. Then again, she hadn't quite threatened anyone at all. She had pointed out a very simple fact, something no one cared to mention. Something no one wanted to think about.

A great many things if he thought about it.

Some part of him, the part that was distant from his mother's seven different rich husbands and the land they were buried under, was angry. Angry that a teacher had betrayed the expectation of not harming a student, that the Noble education that his family and families before him in the end was dismissed like a leaf in the wind.

But this was someone from a faraway country who did far away things. Mahoutokoro, from his reading, only separated by year and by ability. And they started so young the idea of houses was laughable at best. She would not understand. The Houses determined goals and objectives, left inclinations. They taught you who your friends were, in the end.

 _But why?_ A little voice whispered. _Isn't that your job?_

They were children, of course not.

His thoughts were cut off by the door opening to the common room and Tsukino Yuki walking inside. Her cane tapped the ground as always, sweeping the room with sound. Ever since Friday, it was the only sound she made in her House. Even though every eye was on her, she walked steadily towards her dorm room, just as she had done every day so far.

However, the sound caused Malfoy to look up. There was a nasty, hurt, angry gleam in his eyes.

"Tsukino." His voice was currently a hoarse whisper, grey eyes ferocious and wild.

"Bastardize my name again, you filthy animal and I'll shove my cane between your legs," the girl replied, voice as bored as his acidic. "What? Did my sister make you have to _sweat_? Did you get threatened?" Her voice was clear and loud. Unlike Draco, who had preferred a low whisper, for once, she let her voice carry. After all, only the second years had not been in lessons and they were in now. She did not have to lie or even care. They all knew their place? "Did you all get to hear how silly you all are?"

"Your sister humiliated me." Theodore's voice came out through grit teeth. He was still too terrified to actually do anything but then, that was a given.

Tsukino shrugged. "I'm sure you deserved it. Going to gang up on me too? Make an example of me for your wounded pride?" She continued her trek. "Get over yourself. I've met worse than you."

"Do they not teach _mudbloods_ respect in your school?" Draco was reaching. He was trying so hard and he had to know it. No one knew her blood status. "Do they not teach you honor or glory or the importance of blood? You are allowed to disgrace magic itself?"

Yuki paused. She turned her head. "My home taught us to live so those things someday _could_ matter. Not to be complacent because my family had a friend in a high place. That friend won't last."

"She attacked us!" Draco interrupted. "Turned all those fools against us."

"You all have had _years_ to do that!" Tsukino had started to tremble. Draco began to smirk, but it faded at the fury in those eyes that were somehow locked on him. "Years and years! Of calling people mudbloods! Of rubbing money in people's faces! Of going six on one on children!" She strode over to him and swung her cane so hard into Malfoy's face despite the foot of height difference, they all heard the _shattering sound_ of cone. She then turned on Nott, who wisely started to back away. But he wasn't fast enough to stop her from jabbing the dull item in hard enough into his to _draw blood_.

"Your families have had years of watching people murder! Years of jinxing and cursing and harming others! You people! Them out there! And for what?! What is this for? _Nothing!_ I have read so many of your books and there is! No! Reason!"

Tsukino' voice was growing higher, almost distorting with some rage. It was somehow louder than the strangled voice of pain. "Just a bunch of bodies! A bunch of starving abused orphans! Is your money saving you _now_? Is it making your blood any less red, _Nott_?" She cast her eyes around to all of them.

Tears lingered there.

She stabbed her cane on the ground. It squelched. "My sister is a _hero_ ," she declared with fury. "She saved my home. She saved me, she does not have to be here, teaching you ungrateful, sheltered _brats_. And she is. So you respect her the same way you want me to respect that arrogant greaseball! Then maybe we'll get somewhere! Before your new stock of eleven year olds dies because you're proud, like your parents before you!"

She turned and strode sharply away. Parkinson was already near Draco, sobbing over him. He tried not to roll his eyes but winced. His face looked terrible. half of it purpling and the one visible eye bloodshot.

Blaise looked around the room. Everyone was trying to ignore the frantic whimpers and sobbing sounds. Some were whispering. Blaise let his gaze fall to Daphne Greengrass, one of the few of their year who looked relatively well off from their exertion.

He went to her. "You saw everything?"

She nodded, lips pursed. Few people enjoyed the physical violence.

"Can you give a neutral report on them to Madam Pomfrey?"

Daphne hesitated. "Certainly. However…"

"You can also lie. He did walk himself into that one." Blaise couldn't be fussed. But there was no way they, as a house, could let this slip out. Everyone could see the separation already. "Mind if I borrow your sister?"

"I… suppose not." Daphne frowned. "Zabini, that girl is dangerous."

"So am I." He smiled. _So is my family._ "But she is more like us than we think. Her sister is family. We protect family. And we have not. If we do not cull her…" He left the rest unspoken.

Daphne bowed her head. Then she turned and called her sister.

Thank god for Neutrals.

* * *

She hadn't even gotten to her own door, Blaise had found. Tsukino curled in front of it like a cat. Her cane was clutched tight in her hand, more like a weapon than what canes were used for. "Stay away."

Despite what he expected, her tight voice was controlled, each layer of fury simmering close.

Astoria looked at him, her grey eyes soft and wide and horrified.

"I'm not getting any closer, Yuki." Blaise kept his voice quiet. "Just wanted to talk."

"They won't kick me out." Her muffled words were punctuated with a laugh. "They need me here. He wants to wave his money, he can do better than that."

"They?" Blaise sat on his robe for the second time that day, motioning for Astoria to do the same. She did, bewilderment twisting her soft face.

"They." Yuki laughed. "You. Us. Doesn't matter. I'll come out of this. I have to. They need me to be unwelcome. To complete my mission." She paused. She lifted her head, eyes resting on Astoria, who flinched. "Did you know there's a curse on you?"

Astoria's jaw dropped and Blaise's eyebrow quirked. "How did you know?" Demanded the second year. "Who told you?"

"I can see it." Yuki rolled her shoulders. "I can see magic."

And with that sentence, so much fell into place.

"That is a disease!" Blaise quickly lowered his voice before it could echo. "The sheer amount of information from that is deadly. It's caused Obscurial after Obscurial in pureblooded children!" It was a dirty little secret in pureblood circles. There was no suppression of _normal_ magic,but seeing everyone else's was considered animalistic. His mother scoffed at such, of course, but that was his mother, who had won her place with fear and not money.

"Has it?" Yuki laughed once more. "Well. I guess I'll just have to assume I'm not one of those, seeing as I'm still here."

"The headmaster needs to know," Blaise continued. "you're not safe here!"

"Who cares?"

"Anyone who rearranges Malfoy's face gets my love and testimony," Blaise replied with a crooked grin. Then he sobered. "You're going to keep suffering here. You should withdraw."

Yuki shook her head blearily. "Can't. Nee- She'll be alone in a school of people and unable to check on me. I need to be here. I have things to learn."

"I don't know," Astoria said, breaking from her shock. "If you can already break bones you've got a good skill set if your sister is anything to go by."

"Did she threaten people in your class too?" Blaise couldn't help but ask as Yuki chortled.

Astoria raised an eyebrow. "Of course not," she replied drily. "We had _manners_."

"You're just like your sister sometimes," Blaise mused before lunging to grab Yuki as she wobbled in her ball. "Merlin, you're light."

"Leggo I'm fine," she grumbled.

"Uh-huh." He hefted her up. "Where's your sister's office?"

Yuki told him and barely even squirmed as Blaise and Astoria trooped through.

People hissed at them.

"Traitor," grumbled one.

Astoria looked at her fellow second years, huddled around the first years and nodded her head to them.

Yuki raised her head and _growled._

Blaise watched every one of them freeze and barely avoided dropping her himself.

"Werewolf," whispered a fifth year in horror.

Yuki cackled. "You wish. They're dangerous one day a month. I always will be."

Astoria smacked her on the arm. "Not dangerous right now."

Yuki tilted her head towards her as Blaise felt Daphne prepare to pounce. Then she grinned.

"I think Zabini's looks are all he has going for him so I'll save them so I never need them described to me."

Blaise coughed and Astoria sniggered. It was so unladylike someone else laughed.

He was just happy she didn't look ready to cry again. He wasn't good with crying.

* * *

"You can… See my curse?"

Astoria had not asked about it until now, far into the corridors and close to the rooms they needed to go into. The halls were empty. Most people were still down at dinner, barring the Slytherins likely spreading rumors. So much for that, we solve our own problems internally thing.

Yuki nodded. She had eventually just stopped moving much. "I can see that it's all over your blood vessels. It's in your sister's too, but it's paler there. It might need a priest or a cleansing… no idea. Uncle would know."

Blaise tilted his head. The curse of the Greengrass family was an unlucky unkept secret, and the only reason that they were still a well to-do family was because of their blood and money and how every female Greengrass seemed to persuade men they were turkeys in political fields. "You have an Unle who deals with curses?"

"I have Uncles who deal with procreation," Yuki said with a shrug. "But also a priest. My papa's uncle by distant marriage apparently does curses for a living and curse breaking." She paused. "Potter's up ahead."

"Potter?" Astoria tensed up beside him, as all people close to the ear of Malfoy did, as all who knew the threats of the Dark Lord did.

"Are there any other gits with curses on their heads in this school?" Yuki shifted. "Why the hell is he sitting outside my sister's office?"

Blaise really wanted to know how she had his exact position mapped out but then he turned the corner. Good, because his arms were going to hurt.

Sure enough, the starry Gryffindor was sitting on his robe, scratching away on parchment. He looked up from a spare and stared at them, squinting a little.

"Yuki!" He sprang to his feet when he caught on, as heroes do and Blaise was filled with the briefest flare of envy. When had _this_ happened? When had that clearly drawn line been smudged?

Potter strode up to them, small form full of its own divine fury. He was a little specky, now that Blaise was really looking. Like he'd just gotten some meat on his bones. "What happened?" he demanded, green eyes too big and too drawn. "Someone else decide to try and use her for a chew toy too?"

"Malfoy and Nott tried," Astoria didn't have to sound quite so defensive, but then she was twelve and used to the onslaught of Slytherin loathing that existed. "She broke Malfoy's face. And Nott's leg."

"I didn't break his leg. Just severely damaged tendons and muscle tissue." Yuki was grinning a little. "Among other things."

"Don't need to sound so happy about it," Blaise muttered, finally setting her down. "Anyway, she's suffering from magic influx from seeing every last bloody bit of it in the castle so we figured we'd bring her to the professor who can do… whatever she's doing here." He crossed his arms and glowered at Potter now. "And you?"

Potter's cheeks flushed and his fist clenched tight around his wand. "I wanted to talk about today's lesson," he said simply. "Ron and Hermione are… well, they're arguing about it and I got a headache."

 _Too honest._ Blaise shoved that thought away immediately and focused on the fact that Potter was expecting something bad to happen. "Fair," he finally said with a shrug as Yuki sat down on the floor. "I have some questions too. Let us wait together, shall me?"

"You don't have to," Yuki commented. "You're just going to hear me get cursed out in Japanese."

All three of them looked at each other. Then, smiling ever so slightly, Astoria countered, "Friends are for hearing friends get sworn at."

Yuki, of all things, blushed.

By the time Professor Tsukino came back to her office, they were playing a muggle version of hangman.


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight - Someone Strong, Something Weak_

Yuki had not been kidding. Her sister _was_ cursing her out in Japanese, in a sense. Blaise, having only taken a basic course or two over the years, understood one in ten. But he could tell enough.

Professor Tsukino didn't yell either. She just spoke quietly and with intent that made Yuki jump and twitch and wilt in place.

Finally, the teacher spoke in English, very gently. "I love you too, Yuki. But defending me isn't worth the loss of learning. You know this. If they had any real heart in it, they'd have come for me, or through their parents or other things. This was their attempt to bully you, and it worked. It just didn't pan out the way they had desired."

Yuki nodded slowly, fingers curled into her uniform so tight it probably hurt.

Sayo bowed her head for the briefest moment. Then, the teacher looked at her sister. "Don't let them bully you again. You understand me? You are so much more. Let me teach them, let me guide them. There are better ways."

Yuki smiled at this, a little less pale and small in her seat. "That's the best advice you've given me yet."

Tsukino Sayo laughed. "That would be because I'm a hypocrite." She cast her eyes about the room towards the rest of them. "Sorry you had to see all of that." She walked towards the stove, the device small and rough against the soft earthy nature of the room. "I figured you would try to eavesdrop anyway, so there was no point in letting you loiter about the hall."

Potter -Harry? Perhaps- Nodded furiously before Blaise's eyes, fists clenched in his lap. Astoria did the same, lips pursed.

"So, since these two are here for moral support, I suppose I must ask Mister Potter why he was loitering by my office." Professor Tsukino placed steaming tea in front of them them and passed something cold to Yuki. "All of it, or dad'll have both our hides."

Yuki rolled her eyes and chugged it down. This left Blaise and Astoria staring at Potter, who scowled and squirmed. It would have been like Draco if Draco had less decorum and darker skin. They did not relent and the sheen in his eyes told Blaise so much. He needed to work on this subtlety thing.

"I…" He paused. "Today's lesson freaked out my class. And everyone else was really worried about that and I needed a break so I…" He deflated. "I don't understand it."

"Most of the upper years don't," Blaise admitted, deciding to save the poor Boy-Who-Lived some dignity. "My classmates, clearly, did not take it well."

Something was boiling on the stove and instead of using her wand, the professor went to it. "Of course not." She sounded fond, if anything. "It took me years to convince myself that my homeland did not deserve my hatred and rage, nor did it actually care about it. It would use it to hurt me. I still consider hating it, or fearing it. But it doesn't do any good. I don't expect most of you older ones to understand the sentiment or even agree with it. Still, it needs to be said. All blood is red out of the body."

Harry's expression turned mulish and thoughtful all at once. Astoria sipped her tea. (It was still too hot for Blaise) and her eyes sparkled with delight.

"This is really good!" She immediately covered her mouth, guilt welling up in her face.

Tsukino smiled a little more. "It's my uncle's recipe."

"I press too hard on the grinder still, so you're out of luck on me doing that for a bit yet." Yuki's tone turned teasing, as if expecting them to ask.

Blaise snorted. "I can't imagine how that would be the case."

Yuki only smirked.

Then, finally, Harry seemed to come to some conclusion of his own. "Do you think Gryffindors and Slytherins hate each other enough to wish them dead?" He didn't sound angry yet, but it was simmering somewhere, bristling under some injustice, or perhaps fear. "Do you think that's what the Houses do? Play favorites and hate each other and are willing to backstab them like that?"

The professor frowned a little as she flitted about them, moving from place to place. She finally grabbed her wand and set it to work. "Isn't it?"

"Feels like it sometimes." Astoria interrupted before Potter could retort. "'There's not a wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin'," She mimicked, deep throated and tough. Potter's face flushed. He'd heard that before. Who hadn't? "'All a bunch of poncy gits who support You-Know-Who,'" continued the girl. "All sneering snobs who think Muggles and Muggleborns should be burnt at the stake and killed for purity!"

"I mean, you guys don't help," Yuki mused. She was spinning her own wand in her hands and it sparked in annoyance. "That speech from Head Greaseball wasn't exactly encouragement."

Astoria deflated. "Well…"

"Well, what?" Yuki asked. Her sister was watching with a surprising amount of patience, though Blaise saw a single rough eyebrow go up the longer the girl talked. "Well, everyone did it first? Well, everyone hates us anyway! Well, we don't have Death Eaters or whatever stupid name it is queueing up in our dungeons. Don't be naive, Greengrass. It doesn't matter who starts it, or how it starts. It matters that no one here and now is doing anything. It's not like there aren't crappy people in other houses but some cosmic force has decided Slytherin is for the self-serving and self-centered and no one's decided to make it not true in years. Decades."

"Decades of having ambition be mocked and looked down upon," Blaise acknowledged. "Of self-preservation being less important than reckless stupidity."

"Bravery," Harry countered. "Curiosity. Morality."

"Simplistic morality," Blaise shot back. He was grinning now and he didn't know why. "Black and white sides. It's easy for you all to fight against the Dark. You're asking children to fight their fathers and mothers, their cousins and brothers and sisters. You're asking people to turn away all they've ever known because there's no proof it's true. It's not that easy for everyone, though I'm sure there are plenty who might."

Harry Potter, if he had been anyone else, would have quailed and stuttered and been forced to take a step back even if he _knew_ he was right somehow. But he was instead too honest for his own good. "I have no idea what I'm asking considering 'the other side' killed my parents, imprisoned my family, and looks down on the only person to teach me something I could do." His voice rose a little. "Voldemort, the dark arts did that. And so did-" He stopped, chewing on his lower lip, and Blaise pounced on it.

"Well, considering the many followers of Dumbledore were more than willing to consign others to insanity and death under dementors who were our families, you can see the difficulty, can't you?" Blaise offered.

"No," Harry said quietly. "Not really. Not much of a way to experience it."

They sat silently, the two fourth years looking anywhere but each other.

Then their professor clapped once. "Good work," she said to them.

Astoria stared at her like she'd gone round the twist. "Professor?"

"Sayo," the teenager corrected. "I hate being called that. And that's exactly what I wanted to happen. That honesty. That you don't understand each other's thoughts and how can you? You've never communicated. You all had a line drawn for you when you were young by the world at large, or by someone else."

"But we agree on nothing." Blaise picked at his nails, heat flushing his dark skin.

Sayo laughed. "Of course not. But you sat there and played hangman. You don't have to agree to get along at the moment. You have to learn. There's a boy at home who I fought with a couple times. We ended up back to back in a brawl and never looked back. We could never afford to. There are situations that force you to work with others, situations that require the things you loathe to take a backseat if necessary. But you all have had years of… Yuki, what did dad call it?"

"Conditioning of negative reinforcement or something." Yuki was at the kitchenette now, messing with the pots and pans.

"That." Sayo nodded. "Muggleborns would have to deal with less, though they make up their own I suppose." She looked at her hands and back up again. "By the way that word is so strange." She paused at their confusion. "Muggle? Seems derogatory by default doesn't it?"

All three of them looked at each other. "Well… we have magic," Blaise began slowly. "They don't. It's a lacking thing, surely."

Yuki let out a snort. "Oh here we go."

Sayo smiled once more and clapped her hands. "Mister Zabini, that is in fact incorrect. All things have magic."

Blaise stared at her and searched, not through the doctrine, but the proven written fact. "Then… why can't Muggles see things that have magic? Or use it? Or…" The words fell out reflexively, the rest of him utterly baffled by such a strange statement

Sayo sipped her tea. "The defect lies in the ability to _expend_ said magical energy. It's difficult to show something you can't use without grave bodily harm. There's a project from a Mahoutokoro student on the subject. I happened to look at it."

Yuki smirked, as if she knew exactly who was being talked about.

Sayo flicked her wand and she yelped, going back to the soup. "Anyway," she said, still smiling. "Magic needs to hit a certain threshold to be able to see it and its effects. That's where your so-called Squibs come from. To be able to actively use magic requires a certain ability to send it through the body. This is where your witches and wizards come from. Muggles have lost the ability to use and sense magic because it cannot, for a multitude of reasons flow evenly through the body. After all, some spells can be seen, correct?"

"Otherwise, we wouldn't need memory charms," Blaise mused. He was starting to shake a little. Imagine if it wasn't only all a lie, but a repairable lie. She was making it sound like it was a curable problem. And then what? The Wizarding World would have international riots.

Astoria chewed her lip. "So… so, then why do Muggleborns exist?"

"I'll have to bring Koh to explain the theory one of these days," Sayo admitted. "Because I'm not sure. He's the one working on it. He'd say it was because even though the ability to use it was adapted out, there may be a case of genetic luck.. Or over the years, magic has begun to be necessary."

"Genetic?" Blaise tasted the word. Harry looked uncomfortable at the word.

Sayo smiled a little more. "Don't worry about it. We've veered off the point anyhow." She went to the stove. "First though…" She glanced out her nie window. "I think you've all missed dinner, and I wasn't planning to go down anyway." She placed the pot on a cloth. "Soup? My uncle said since we're getting good ingredients that I should practice."

Yuki was already grabbing bowls and looking a little too happy to be able to eat in well, peace. Blaise smiled before he could stop himself.

"It would be a pleasure."

* * *

Harry was surprised to find it actually was. Despite, well, all those weird statements earlier and his temper trying to explode out of his head, everything had just… relaxed. And the soup was good. Thick. It wasn't quite Mrs. Weasley's cooking but it was still familiar in that homey sense.

Of course it almost fell apart when Hermione and Ron turned up in front of the door, looking at Harry like they'd fully expected him to be eaten. Their teacher had just invited them up and offered another sofa. For a few minutes they were all quiet, separate.

Then Blaise dared to ask, "Do you cook like this at home Granger?"

And Hermione, in true fashion, replied, "Not all of us have house elves to do it for us. We tend to use our hands."

Blaise had laughed. "I'll have to learn then, otherwise I'll have my mother's cooking. That's more poison than what goes in my fathers."

"That's gross," Weasley remarked through a spoonful.

"So are your table manners," Astoria replied with a raised eyebrow. Hermione looked much the same. "It's soup, not gruel. Respect it. Not everyone gets to have some."

Ron stared at her and Yuki started laughing.

"You are all so dumb," she declared. She barely dodged her sister's flick. "It's not that serious. It's _food_. Not everything is a crusade."

Hermione stared at her. "Not everything is a personal attack for violence either."

"I heard you set a man's robes on fire, Granger," Yuki replied, stirring her broth. "You have no right to complain about violence. Besides, you're fighting a wraith zombie or whatever. If you're not using violence as a tool, what _are_ you using?"

Sayo chortled, sitting in front of them. "Be nice, Yuki."

"When she gets her head back on her shoulders with the rest of us, I'm happy to."

Harry nudged Yuki. "Oi. My best friends."

Yuki regarded him and for the first time, someone stared back. She cackled then. "Didn't know there was a hierarchy."

"There's not!" Harry's face flushed and he did look away from it.

"Are they your friends too, Potter?" Yuki asked him then, as Astoria sipped her soup.

A different person, again, would have hesitated.

Harry looked Blaise right in the eye and said, "If they can handle it."

Blaise smirked at him. "Bring it."


	9. Chapter 9

_Warning for implied torture and anxiety attacks_

* * *

 _Chapter Nine - Defense Against the Dark Arts_

Harry made it to Defense early enough with Ron and nearly the entire class in tow. Hermione was still missing but he rather expected that. She'd been running to the library with every chance she had since term had started and she wasn't going to stop anytime soon. _What is she looking for anyway?_

True to form she skidded in just behind them as the door opened.

"Come on," Harry said, helping her up so her thick bag of heavy books didn't knock her back to the floor. Ron grasped her other hand and the three of them moved into the classroom.

Despite himself, there _was_ an undercurrent of excitement in Harry's steps. Since Tuesday, he'd been getting small waves of pleasant conversation and everyone saying just how good Moody was. No offense to Professor Tsukino but this was going to be a _good_ class where no one felt wrong footed because they could defend themselves. People had experience here… somewhat.

Honestly, Harry wasn't holding his breath. Even if this was Alastor Moody, one of the greatest Aurors since the war (and was he? After Quirrell and a fraud the base was uneven), he was around during the last war, that meant he had no idea how to handle peace, right? He was apparently hugely paranoid and got discharged.

 _I'm sounding like Aunt Petunia,_ he scolded himself as he sat down.

Their teacher soon clanked in, one eye bloodshot, the electric blue whizzing about with a sickening speed. How did he handle that? Didn't that get weird to look at? Or did he just not process it at all?

The man didn't speak a word until he reached the desk and took roll. Then he turned to them, scribbling furiously about a single topic:

"Curses."

The room seemed to go still. The Ravenclaws behind him were eager. Harry wanted to be, but nausea crept up his throat. His scar felt itchy, like the wool of a poorly washed sweater. It wasn't like Quirrell, but the similar feeling did not go away.

Harry regretted sitting in the front now.

He regretted it more about five minutes later at the sight of the spider moving its legs in obscure, unnatural patterns, climbing up a web that didn't exist and looping about. People were laughing, but something in Harry's chest felt strangely tight. It was like watching Dudley's friends grab his arms as he kicked out.

Moody, however, seemed nonplussed. "Next," he drawled without a hint of anything given away.

Neville timidly raised his hand. Within seconds of giving his answer, the spider was screaming, a horrible wailing that was climbing the walls the longer it went on. Harry couldn't help but twitch. What was it like? The basilisk venom running through your body? Everything on fire? What was it? What did it do? It was a curse of nothing but pain, who created this?

 _Why do you want to know?_ Some smarmy voice, one that sounded a bit like Malfoy, of all people, asked him on the inside.

And Harry, feeling particularly annoyed with it, answered himself, _because with my luck, someone is going to his me with it and I won't be ready._

He would have argued with himself further if Hermione hadn't screamed at Moody, upset in a way she hadn't ever been. Harry turned to look at her, and caught sight of Neville.

Neville looked like death had warmed over.

Harry got up from his chair without a word, heaved Neville to his feet and made for the exit. His heart was thudding hard in his ears, and he wasn't sure why he was doing whatever he was doing. Before he realized it, he had hefted Neville's shaking form out of the classroom and they were stumbling down the steps together.

Neville was muttering under his breath, fingers twitching and sweat dripping from his brow. Harry stopped for a moment on a landing, the stairs rumbling to a new place around them. Limbs sagging, adrenaline fading, Harry set them down. "Neville?"

He kept his voice quiet because Neville practically jumped higher than the railing behind them. "H-Harry?" He looked around, quivering all over. "What are we doing out here?"

Harry shifted. "I, uh… I needed some air, and it looked like you did to."

"O-Oh…" Neville shifted again. "S-S-Sorry, I just… the spider was-"

"In pain, yeah." Harry squirmed. How did one talk about… whatever that was? Panic? Anxiety. Fear? Something along those lines. Hermione usually had all of those answers but… well, she was obviously still in class. And somehow Harry didn't think it would help this time. "Tortured, really."

Neville twitched again and Harry swallowed. That was just his foot going into his mouth wasn't it? But then Neville smiled jerkily. "Yeah," he agreed. "That was exactly what it was… yeah…" They went silent together for a little while.

Then Harry, practically sensing Filch waiting to find them, said, "Let's go to the hospital wing. It's… private. I'd…" The rumors were going to be all over the school by tonight, whatever they said.

Neville, thankfully, didn't question his sudden bout of nerves and was more than willing to walk. Quickly at that. He even managed to skip over the trick step.

As they got closer to the hospital wing, Neville suddenly stopped and said, "I remember that curse." His voice was so soft that Harry almost kept walking and missed it . He turned to Neville then examined the rest of the hallway.

"Really?" The word slipped out miserably, with so many questions, so many awful questions because why would anyone remember that? "Uh…" Harry paused, debating with himself.

Neville, having opened his mouth, plowed on in the same soft voice. "Gran says I'm imagining it, that it's just a persistent bad dream. But I remember it and I rarely remember _anything_ right so I…" He shrugged, hands helplessly clenching and loosening. "It's a lot of screaming, my parents, someone laughing and I'm sure, I'm sure but-"

Harry clapped a hand firmly onto Neville's shoulder. "I believe you," he said quickly.

Neville opened and shut his mouth, gobsmacked. "You… you do?"

Harry nodded. "I… the dementors give me that… my parents I mean. So, you're, you're not alone, Neville."

 _No shit he's not,_ Harry immediately scolded himself. He paused in mid mental scolding to see the wide-eyed look and a smile bordering on goofy. It looked just like Harry remembered feeling in that one cupboard corner, personified.

Harry nodded, movement sharp and awkward. "We're friends, Neville."

And suddenly, uncomfortable, he thought of Astoria Greengrass slurping soup on a chair, attempting to show Ron over the importance of the state of your clothes with a handkerchief. Or Hermione and Blaise debating the finer points of servitude and slavery like it was ordinary.

It may just have been because they were in that room.

"Thanks, Harry," Neville said quietly, breaking Harry from the strange thought.

Harry felt like he had swallowed a lemon. "Yeah… you're welcome." He cleared his throat. "I…" He wanted to ask if Neville had told any aside from his gran before, if he had even considered it. Then, he shut his mouth. "Let's get to the hospital wing, just in case."

Neville nodded, and they set off again.

The hospital wing smelled of dried leaves and linen. The matron was already out, tending to the small form of Yuki. She tilted her head towards them.

"You're supposed to be in class," she said. Neville jumped. "Who's the pal, Potter?"

" _You're_ supposed to be in class," Harry retorted, taking a seat next to Neville.

"I'm not allowed on your broom death traps," Yuki replied, taking the medicine from Pomfrey. "So I take meds, especially now that Zabini thinks I'm delicate. So, who's dirt boy?"

Neville wilted, and Harry felt his hackles rise. "Lay off him, Moody freaked him out."

"There's dirt under his nails," Yuki replied as Pomfrey came back out, bustling with small potion vials and looking at Harry like she expected him to drop dead at any given moment. "Did you go out to the greenhouses this morning?"

Neville jumped. "I… usually, I, erm, once a week."

Yuki tilted her head. "Your hands smell like it. Cool. " She laid back and shut her eyes.

And that seemed to be that. She didn't let out another peep until they were gone, instead laying back and listening to the matron fuss and mutter over them. Neville snuck glances at her, but she did not move even once to return it.

By the time they left, it was time for lunch. They trudged together into the throng, Neville getting some color back into his face.

"I thought it would be worse," Neville finally said after a moment.

Harry frowned. "The lesson?" Cause he had expected nothing and he didn't think he wanted to go back.

Neville shook his head. "No, Professor Tsukino's sister." He smiled a little. "But… the lesson too, I guess."

"Hopefully Hermione will be willing to catch us up." Cause there was no way he was going back there today. The embarrassment was too sharp.

Neville gave another jerky nod. Then, as they approached the giant doors, he paused. "Thanks, Harry."

Harry smiled and it felt natural. "Any time."

* * *

"You're stupid for sitting next to me."

"I'm rich and blond and totally allowed to make wrong decisions in my life."

"You're blonde?"

Astoria laughed outright, hushing it behind her hand. "You can't see that?"

Yuki tried not to laugh. "I can't see shapes. Only vague magical colors and not your actual colors." And she can see less now, thanks to the eye drops Madame Pomfrey had shoved in her eyes. From her father she knew not to argue with nurses who actually knew what they were doing but still. This was plain irritating. "So now I know you're a blond."

"Yep. And your hair is whiter than Malfoy's."

"Genetic anomaly," Yuki replied, scribbling on her paper. She'd buy pens at this point. Or a computer with a printer, if that would work. Seriously. Why couldn't electricity just work here? She was gonna have to look into that. Or have Coach do it, Coach loved this stuff.

"A what?"

Yuki blinked by reflex, continuing to scribble. "Genetics. Genes. Gene pool. Determines everything from hair color to potential diseases from birth to how tall you could be." She kept writing as she felt something staring at the nape of her neck. "What?"

"Your sister mentioned it. Is that like, a muggle thing?" Her voice sounded torn between fascination and fear. "Like, do only muggles and Muggleborn kids have it or-"

"Everyone has it," Yuki replied blandly. It occurred to her that they were having this conversation in the common room near her friends and she was probably within hexing distance. Hmph. Challenge accepted. "Genetics is a study of the data of the human body so to speak. At the moment of this current era, scientists are still mapping out a lot about it. It's just muggles and muggleborn can know more about it than magical creatures and humans, because none of you are interested in it, except maybe those government people but I trust them as much as I trust steel bars. To be fair I dunno much either. Coach could tell you, he's the one burying himself in magical and scientific connections. But I know enough to tell you that if you know your family in-breeds, you know more about genetics than most of this population."

She could feel Astoria, and possibly others, staring at her. "That's why pureblood mania can't be confirmed as true or not. By basic genetics, supposedly it would be true, but that wouldn't explain the Muggleborns. So you'd immediately assume magic was being stolen but then if it could get stolen, it wouldn't be a random person or group of people. It would be consistent because the same people would be doing it."

She heard a quill snap. She paused. "Sorry."

Astoria's magic shifted. She wasn't looking at her. "How can you say that stuff so easily?"

Yuki didn't answer immediately, biting back the fury that was on her tongue. This was her only friend in this rusty death trap. "Tell you what," she said after a while. "I'll teach you non-magical stuff, you teach me pureblood stuff."

"To be a better Slytherin?" The tone was cautious, leery, uncomfortable.

"To survive," she replied, scratching at the pages once more in the now required braille for her. "No matter how clear I've made it that I hate this poncy shit, the fact is I'm stuck here so I need to learn. I'd rather people stop passive aggressively hexing my door like it'll get them into my room and they'll leave it alive."

Astoria stiffened. "That… That's the Slytherin way, we take care of our problems internally."

"It's called a discussion, Astoria," Yuki said softly. "If taking care of our problems internally is acting like the Gryffindors we spit on behind closed doors, I'm not sure we're as different as we say we are. Dark magic and pureblood don't make our behavior any less out of whack."

Astoria chewed her lip and said nothing more. Yuki didn't either. Still she didn't leave her alone at dinner, which was nice enough of her.

* * *

Sayo watched the seventh years leave class. The air around them was thick with something, a cloud. She couldn't have named it even if she was adept at these things so she didn't try. There hadn't been reports on Yuki in a few days, but the girl continued to ping her digivice with anything of note.

Which for Yuki was still everything. She could act as cynical as she wanted, Sayo knew childhood excitement when she saw it. Someone needed to have the childhood wonder in their house until Dad up and remarried or… god she was going to have a little cousin by her chief sometime next year by the gods why?

She picked up her wand again, grimacing at it. This thing was… so random. Sending Soul through it was like funnelling drops of water into a pipette. It couldn't take nearly the strength her body could, let alone any weapons in hand. No wonder these wizards were so unknown that her Uncle hadn't even heard of them as viable threats. And that wasn't even talking about the air in the rooms.

Still. It had its uses, she supposed. Like keeping these kids from losing their mind every time she stepped funny. Sayo respected paranoia, but…

Suddenly, at least to her mind, the room shook. It was so mild anyone who wasn't paying attention wouldn't have noticed at all. But she felt that mild shake again. Sayo crossed the hall and went out the door, ignoring every student who was likely feeling a faint brush of wind as she leaped over heads and breezed past. The hair on the back of her neck was standing up, her Soul thrumming under her hands and she reached a window and saw-

A giant boar. It almost dwarfed the forest, nearly the courtyard. And yet no one saw it.

That told Sayo everything she needed to know. She stood on the stone windowsill, a grin, curling on her face that anyone who saw it reflected on the window was likely to have nightmares.

 _A Digimon._


	10. Chapter 10

_Warning for plot._

* * *

 _Chapter Ten - A Single Answer_

People close to that window would swear it hadn't been broken about twelve seconds ago and that their teacher was still looking at it. But that would be crazy. After all, they were at least a good ten stories above ground if not more. If she had jumped from that far, barring an incredible flight spell or a summoned broom, she should have died. Though there was also a crater in the grounds.

Then an alarm began to blare above their heads, followed by McGonagall's voice calling them back into their dorms.

OF course, people only made it down a few flights before they heard an incredible, awful roar that shook the stones the longer it went on.

Naturally everyone froze like rabbits, just long enough for everyone at the windows to see what had made the awful sound.

It looked like a boar at first glance, the way its fur bunched up and gathered around its horns. But boars did not grow that large. It could even dwarf a small giant.

"Hogwarts," McGonagall began again, not a quaver in her voice. " _To arms."_

It let out another stone shaking roar in response. This time, chaos erupted.

Sayo, already running across the grounds with her necklace flying, was looking after none of it. In any other situation, her boss would have reprimanded her for not seeing to her charges as a teacher should. But that was Yuki's role, not hers and she was the first line of destruction to be swathed.

She could feel her sister, so close and so far, dancing over the runes already far far away, like Sayo had shown her early during her detentions, as Shinta had shown _her_. She was already a master, whereas it had taken Sayo three months to master the wards, to sing them to her confidence. The school did not know what to make of an old girl like her. It thought to mold her sister instead.

She supposed even schools could go senile.

"Titrel~" She sang. "How close to school impact?"

 _"Vikralamon will impact in one minute buddy,"_ chimed her necklace. _"Banishing wand."_ The wand at her ear vanished into hammerspace. Or what was supposed to be an ear. Glamours were a nightmare.

Thirty seconds more than she anticipated. Go figure. That jump must have taken most of the distance. "Initialize countdown. Tell the back to brace for impact."

 _"Shall we cut them down?"_

Sayo took off, ice melting into the ground where she stepped. "No. We will make a mark! We will lead it, silence them all." This would accelerate her explanations for the third week but honestly live demonstrations were the best learning tool. If Julia hadn't shown them she could do her own courses, no one would have even tried. She was not a dragon after all, not like Sayo. She was just trained down to the marrow in her bones. She would say Sayo was being soft.

And she was probably right too. But that was fine. She liked the idea of going soft a little bit.

She hopped a bit in place, dodging the wave that came from its rumbling steps. He was moving _right_ towards the castle, a Deva moving in a set pattern was never good, even if it was just the boar and his single-minded devotion. Was it the smell of _Soul_ , permeating the air? Was it the human lives, easy to devour like a highly sought feast?

Or was this whole situation worse than even the Chiefs had considered? She hoped not, their commanders loved worst case scenario planning.

A tusk flew up towards her form still in midair. Sayo brought her hands together and froze the air for it to smack into. As she landed from the recoil, her eyes caught a glimpse of a single red jet of light, followed by another and another, smacking into the fur.

For a moment, the Vikralamon froze, shaggy hair frozen in time. Then it let out an annoyed shriek.

"Dear Merlin," she heard from meters behind her.

Sayo couldn't help but roll her eyes. She sank into a fighting position. "Ladies, gentlemen and others, I'm glad you're here as witnesses but you need to get back behind your wards. I can't keep you safe and take down this thing at the same time."

Honestly, Yuki should be out here by now. She was slacking. Or waylaid.

There were more jets of red lights, followed by one or two orange ones, in lieu of listening. Sayo let out a loud curse. They weren't allowed to be this recklessly stupid. This entire group had expressly all died according to that letter and inviting this thing to do so didn't sound like a positive power play.

So Sayo clicked for Titrel to turn off the translation effect and snapped back in the english she had been raised knowing, "Get outta here, you're wastin' my time!"

And to prove it, she proceeded to delicately balance on a tusk on her hands, before flipping forward with her weight and driving the back of her boot into an eye.

VIkralamon shrieked pain. Sayo scoffed. "Honestly, your eyes, really." And she lifted herself up to flip forward and _punched_. It fell back on scrambling feet, sending her careening backwards. Her body caught the rest, rebalancing on the tips on her toes. Puberty had somehow given her her balancing acts back. Yikes.

She spun around and saw four professors and the headmaster with their wands trained on the monster.

"You hired me for this part of the job, the least ya'll could do is listen," she said. Then she remembered she'd turned off her Digivice's translator and sighed. "Professor, you should have sent 'em off."

"I am afraid sending a lone child into battle is ill advised, Miss Tsukino." His voice was wry, almost exasperated, as though he knew exactly what she was about to say to him.

"Seems like you were fine with it happening under your nose though." She slipped the Digivice's translator back on and spoke again. "Don't worry, he's quite subdued now." She turned back to the monster and went to prove it, offering a single outstretched hand. There were grumbles behind her, bothersome English she wasn't particularly interested in. She stepped towards the creature.

"Come now," she said to him, smiling broadly. "You know what happens if I kill you here, don't you, _Deva_?"

The digimon warbled in dismay, though to be honest it sounded like a trumpeting horn across the acres. But she knew an upset sound when she heard it.

"Yes," she agreed. "You're smarter than everyone thinks. There, there. Come now. I can take you back home." She unclipped her digivice from her belt and held it out to them. Digimon occasionally tried eating DIgivices, she knew, but the devices were toxic to ingest on their own. They'd end up exploding on the inside as the parts failed to digest with the acid replica. "Death here is for good remember? I just need you to do one thing for me. We can stay right here if you'd like."

Vikralamon rumbled. Sayo, unafraid, nodded back.

"Professor," she called. "Would it be any trouble to call the students for an impromptu lesson? This will save a little bit of time on all of our parts."

After all, if this led to her becoming a layabout and having no students, she'd like to know sooner rather than later.

* * *

The whole school was aflutter with sound.

Terror from students who claimed to have seen a boar greater than even Buckbeak, larger than Hagrid by a long shot. Some bragged that they had fired at the creature and that was why it was roaring earlier.

Most people? Most of the school was horrified. Even Malfoy, whose face was remarkably undamaged after whatever happened in his common room (the Slytherins as a whole had started giving Yuki a wide berth barring some stragglers from the second years), was quiet, subdued. His eyes flickered between the exit and their way forward, as everyone clumped forward as one awkward mass heading out of the grounds.

Ron was clutching his wand in fascination and a not so small amount of fear. "We're going towards that boar thing," he wheezed after a moment.

Harry couldn't see over Ron's shoulder, so he was just going to have to agree with him on that one.

Malfoy managed a scoff. "Don't be ridiculous Weasley. Surely Dumbledore isn't that mad."

"I dunno," Ginny said as casually as she could manage. "He let you and your lot in, and you can't even bow without getting your arm socked in."

Ron snorted and out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Hermione almost smile. It sent a warmth through his chest, but it wasn't quite as warm as usual.

Professor Tsukino wanted them to work together. Maybe not get along, but at least be able to coexist. How would you do that through four years of unnecessary, antagonistic bullshit?

 _I didn't want to be friends with someone stuck up and smarmy, who would judge me for the dumbest things, what's wrong with that?_

The teacher seemed sure there was something.

"That was a long sentence for someone who couldn't-" Malfoy suddenly coughed as Yuki shoved past him.

"Move along aristocrats, nothing to see here," she said dryly. Harry couldn't contain the groan that came out of his mouth. She snickered and stepped past him. There were papers and papers stacked in her small arms and by impulse, Harry grabbed a few stacks. "Much obliged, Potter," she said in return, now the two of them pushing through the crowd with help.

"Where are Blaise and Astoria?" Harry asked before he could control his voice. Malfoy made a coughing noise behind them, a glare fixed on the back of Harry's neck.

"Chatting with Tracey Davis and a couple others. I told them being in the back would be good to get a head start." She shifted a little.

"A head start?" Ron repeated. He was squinting at Yuki, which to be fair so was most of their year. Harry couldn't blame him, but at the same time, she… Maybe it was just that day in the hallways, frustrated, upset tears and banter that was a little too much like Sirius to make him feel uncomfortable.

Maybe she could be a better conversation than Harry, who sent the man into paranoid bursts of activity. That would mean telling her his godfather was an escaped convict.

"To flee for your lives, shrieking and hollering for safety and shutting down the school for endangering students." Yuki scoffed. "Please. As if we wanted one of these guys to show their ugly mugs here."

Harry was starting to not want to know but then he managed to see what Ron was talking about.

"G-Giant boar is a bit of an understatement," he said, for lack of anything better to say at the sight of the creature sitting in a crater of its own dead grass.

Yuki laughed. "Oh that's _nothing_."

If that was nothing, Harry dreaded to see what was something. Because the boar easily outweighed Hagrid, and even more easily dwarfed him in height. Its tusks were easily as long as one of Hagrid's arms. Beady eyes stared out at them, looking from one person to another slowly and all he could think of was a more hairy Uncle Vernon preparing to throw him into the cupboard at full force.

The teachers, if anything, looked even less enthused. Except Hagrid, who lookde plain fascinated.

"Come around, come around," Sang over their heads. And there was Professor Tsukino, sitting with her legs dangling over the creature's massive body towards its face. Her purple eyes were practically sparkling, a grin on her face.

"She's off her rocker, just like Hagrid," Ron whispered, freckles standing out on his skin.

Harry twitched to see Yuki's head turn towards Ron's face. "Mind repeating that, weasel-brain?"

"Don't worry, he's agreed to not harm anyone, barring unforeseen circumstances." Sayo thankfully interrupted them. The creature grumbled something. "Say it for the class to hear, Abe. They're all quite terrified."

"As if eating them would give me any satisfaction."

The entire crowd jumped. Their teacher only laughed. Hermione, for some reason, was paler than Ron and Malfoy. Ron stared, gaping.

"It talked," he whispered.

Yuki made a face, like she'd eaten a lemon. "C'mon Potter, let's get these papers up."

That was the last thing that he wanted to do right now but she dragged him up by his robes somehow. Sayo dropped from the monster and landed gently in front of it.

"I"m about to break every single one of your wizarding brains," she said, the wry expression on her face. "Does anyone understand space and time and dimensions?"

Hermione's hand quaked up behind them, followed by over half the Arithmancy class and Professor Vector. Dumbledore was quiet, staring at her with an intensity that Harry had never quite seen before.

Sayo nodded. "Very well. Consider this. There is a world that exists beyond our own, beyond earth and possibly the other planets. Abe here is from another world, one that overlaps with ours. In that world, technology reigns all mighty. Traditional magic such as what you do is dangerous and ill-used. Also, your magic does not work on Digital Monsters, as your teachers learned here today. Therefore, we have other methods."

"Twig wielders," grumbled the creature. More people jumped.

Sayo stepped forward and took the papers from them with mischief all over her face. "If you choose to stay in my class, you will have the opportunity to raise one of these creatures from hatching. They will become your partner, your friend. They will know you better than you know yourself. And if you care for them correctly, as you would for yourself, you will end up with an equal beyond your wildest dreams."

Sayo smiled. "So if you want to quit, now is the time."


	11. Chapter 11

_Warnings: past violence, plot, self-deprecation_

* * *

 _Chapter Eleven - The Situation At Hand_

Albus Dumbledore, in the span of a few moments, took over the attention of the student body and the entire lesson as well, showing how to speak to Abe and how to approach, declaring they ought to do so, as it would be the epitome of rudeness otherwise. Sayo didn't blame anyone for not wanting to be there or move closer.

She had been around giant monsters for so long that she could almost forget the fear.

But then she remembered seeing half a body at the age of seven and held to that fear.

Taming Digimon would not be an easy task, but it needed to be done. Just as inter-House Unity was a difficult task, but needed to be done.

How else could she have convinced Dumbledore to let this class through? Or, well, Julia did the convincing anyway. She had shown off Darkmoon City was a well-oiled machine despite its setbacks. Which it was, really. Even the Chrono Core had not destroyed their system, merely upheaved the issues for all and sundry to see. No, the tough task had been convincing Dumbledore that a sixteen-year-old girl (an adult in her bloodline's eyes) could teach.

She was, realistically the only one who could. No one would subject any of her fellow trainees on anyone (and Julia could not trust Dorothy unsupervised in a school full of children anymore) and she was the only one who could wrangle Yuki to sit down and sit still.

Except for Koh, but he was still unconsciously setting his clothes on fire. Him filling out muscle would be distracting for those upper year snots.

Litton or Raigo could have done it if Litton wasn't on off world duty for the next century so she didn't murder Chief Glare in a fit of pique and Raigo wasn't off… getting married? Was that what it was? The rest of them were still picking up Digital CITY pieces.

Whatever the case, it left her, the antisocial mess she was, teaching children.

And since she was teaching children, it was important to observe the little snots in their natural state of terror.

Dumbledore was doing very well, all things considered. He'd never been near a Vikralamon before (and she knew them and the mammoths to wander the desert areas of Server during summers, if not Folder so they weren't common to her either) and yet he was perfectly respectful to Abe and his grumbling self. Abe hadn't let out another curse word in minutes.

Not that these children would recognize just how disrespectful he was being. They were too busy being scared to death.

Her eyes wandered them all. The first years were whispering with delight, something about how their old schools would have never had this. The second years were close but not nearly the same. She was going to figure these are better than those… what were they called? Dementors? Roaming the grounds like they owned them? Despair inducing creatures. They sounded disgusting and in need of extermination.

She bet they would quail and flee the second they got sight of her mother, like these older students. They looked ready to be swallowed up by the grounds if they could be. Potter had a defiant gleam in his eyes, inching closer to the giant boar, papers left carefully on the ground. Even as the others inched back, he was scooting to see it.

No, that wasn't defiance. That was _recognition._

And now that she saw it, she could see it in other places, little likely Muggleborn eyes, people who'd been around more technology than a wireless radio. And one pair was just as wide with fear as they had been the last time she'd seen them directly. Wide and brown and knowing.

Sayo slipped off of Abe's back, unnoticed in the terrifyingly rapt attention the student body was giving their headmaster as he spoke at length. She'd given him all the notes he needed and more, likely. She weaved through the cloud, people jumping after she'd passed like she'd given them a disease by breathing.

Then she paused, carefully, at Hermione Granger's side. "Would you mind going for a walk with me?"

Granger swallowed, much less at ease than she had been in Sayo's quarters before. But then, the ingrained habit to respect a teacher kicked in and she followed Sayo from the crowd.

"Hey," Weasley began and Sayo smiled at him.

"She'll be all right," she assured him. "I think she needs some air. Keep an eye on Potter, will you? He might be plotting to do something stupid."

She appreciated the snap of Ron Weasley's neck to turn back to his steadily creeping friend. Loyalty, born and made, was properly hard to come by.

She guided Hermione off of the crowd and walked steadily towards the hut Hagrid lived in. _He deserves better,_ she couldn't help but think. Certainly, he was at least part giant and that required accommodations, but he deserved better than a hut and a vegetable patch.

She stopped just before the hut with Hermione. The bushy girl followed mindlessly, hands wringing, dark skin almost pallid.

"Granger," she began. The girl jumped, actively.

"Yes?"

Sayo shrugged off her jacket and motioned for her to sit down on it. It was immune to water damage, thank god for Mahotokoro. When Hermione sat on trembling legs, Sayo joined her, looking up at the rainy England sky.

"Miss Granger," she continued in that steady voice her da had taught her for unruly digimon and upset children. Calm, content. "Have you seen that digimon before?"

Granger let out a sound of disagreement. It seemed better than words.

"I see. Then." Sayo smiled. Because this she could work with. "You've seen digimon before. Were you attacked then?"

Her breath hitched a little. "My…"

Sayo waited.

"I was seven," she said finally. "We were in France. There was a strange car crash while we were visiting the museum. My… My mother's leg was broken. There were monsters all over the exhibits, father was hospitalized- they…"

Sayo waited.

"But one," she continued, voice growing stronger. "One kept getting in the way of the others every time they got close. I… I think it was protecting me."

Sayo sank her teeth into her bottom lip so she wouldn't smile. "Of course," she agreed. "That would only make sense. Digimon are capable of being smart, smarter than humans. Thank you, Miss Granger."

"Thank you?" the girl parroted.

Sayo did smile this time, and the look on Granger's face said it all. "You have just proven something very important and my teachers are going to have a field day once we have a little more evidence. But first and foremost, I can confirm you will be able to see that creature again, if you're willing to stick by me for another two weeks."

Sayo watched her answer as the gears turned in her head. In her time, there had been nothing on record stating chosen children had been popping up before 1995, before the so-called Sacred Eight, especially not outside the East.

And all of that, as of today, was _wrong._

The Eight Crests, the five Arbitraitors, they were not the first, nor the only. If they existed in this past, they likely continued to exist in the present.

 _I have a case,_ she thought, triumph in her gut as she reached out and pressed a hand on Granger's shoulder. _We have a case._

Finally, finally, Digital City would get what it deserved: freedom.

* * *

There were no owls in the Owlery.

Yuki knew this because instead of standing her ground and fighting every battle in front of her, she'd taken Sayo's advice during the class and started running. Where no one would look was the high rafters of the Owlery, because they'd sent out all the birds and no one figured anyone would touch where they left their droppings, never mind be able to reach.

But Yuki had been learning how to move like that since she was able to hold onto things for longer than ten seconds. Since she'd climbed her first ratty, broken up sofa. She wasn't an idiot.

Well, no, that wasn't true. She was an idiot. She was just one who knew how to fight things bigger than her and how to kill them.

Except she couldn't fight an entire school without murdering them. And she couldn't talk them into fear like her sister could. So for all her bluster she was stupidly useless.

Not even the two people who had kind of liked her in that house (she couldn't understand why, she knew she wasn't very likable) were probably ready to tear her apart now.

Now, more than ever, she wished for home.

"Stupid Cho Chang," she mumbled, unaware of the way her voice echoed in the empty room. "Stupid letter. Why couldn't you leave us _alone_ , like you all did before?"

"Well, it's very easy to leave you alone up there if I don't hear your voice."

Yuki twitched, removed her palms from her eyes. Someone's color was down there, a color with a faint voice. Nothing hostile, there would have been lots of little spikes. It was a very strange shade of blue. "Who are you?" _And why shouldn't I knock you out and run?_

This idiot would bring the school down on her and Yuki didn't want to jump out the window.

"You can't tell?" She could sense a smile. "My name is Cho Chang."

For a moment, Yuki's vision was eclipsed in red.

"I heard my name," she heard. "And I don't believe we've ever met. So, who are you, really?"

 _Not your business,_ she wanted to snap, along with the girl's likely feeble bones, to sink her teeth in and-

She forced her hand to grip tight on the awning. "A Japanese transfer student."

"Who is afraid of brooms?" She laughed and the magic swirled about. "What Japanese student doesn't love brooms?"

"A blind one."

The girl paused. It would have seemed thoughtful if Yuki didn't want to kill her at this point and she couldn't see her face to tell anyway. "Even the blind are taught how to see with the wind."

"Maybe in the country you're from." She kept the sneer, saw the ripple of red flicker over the magic.

"Are you always this insufferable?"

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

The girl laughed and it hurt. "So, have we met or not?"

Yuki hesitated, shifting on her perch. "No."

"Then how would you know me?"

Oh this was a quandary. She wasn't supposed to reveal the mission. Although… technically she wasn't revealing it. And Sayo had said keeping it secret following the Triwizard Tournament was like trying to keep Newton from the matches every May 27th. So she reached into her robes (the only useful Wizarding World contraption yet, robes with inner pockets) and pulled out a copy of the letter her father had read to her what felt like years ago but was actually mere months.

She flicked it to smack against Cho Chang's head, which she must have succeeded in due to the squeak. She should have tried to aim for the eye. She was bad at that level of aim. Limbs and torso had a lot more potential spots to hit. The face? There was really only so much you could do.

There was a nice moment of silence. Well, silence to everyone else. Yuki heard a few owls return, the feathers rustle, the envelope slit open with a fingernail.

Then the normal comment of, "this is my handwriting."

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Good. We had no idea. I can't see it, we don't share classes...I suppose I could have asked Potter if it was, but then he'd read it and ask a lot of nosy questions. You said he was good at that."

She heard the clack of a shoe. "I… I did?"

Yuki nodded. "Well, you wrote about it anyway. In the future. Unless we change it. Which you asked us to. So that letter may become a paradox or something. I have no idea." She gave herself a none-too-gentle shove off of the ledge and landed on the floor with little more than a clack of her shoes. The teen jumped. "Oops."

She made her way to the door. "I gotta find a new hiding place now. I made people hate me, and now we have giant monsters by the school? I can only guess what my house is gonna do to me, let alone everyone else. Do what you want with that by the way. Believe it, spread it like a rumor, uh… you could talk to Potter I guess. By the way he-" She stopped herself. "Never mind, that's not my business. Later, I guess."

And she was gone, leaving Cho with shaking hands and a letter in her impossibly cramped Chinese letters. Something that no one here would be able to write or read. Not even the Ravenclaws.

So either that girl and her sister were lying very well, or this letter was from the future.

Cho, without hesitation, turned and ran out of the Owlery. There was one person who might know, and it wasn't Professor Flitwick.


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter Twelve - Confrontations of Authority_

Sayo watched the door to the Gryffindor common room swing shut, watched Potter and Weasley place their arms around Granger without hesitation. They glanced back at her as the portrait closed and she only smiled back, softer than usual. She did feel bad for them. This wasn't fair. But then she had no reason to keep things fair when she had so much to do. When they had so much to do.

That Triwizard Tournament was no joke. That had been part of the reason she had been allowed to come, especially with Mahoutokoro's (Whoever named that school deserved to get shot) reputation of complicated spell craft work and deliberate survival training. Her uncle's father had said when the bombs dropped, Mahoutokoro's spells had been the one thing that kept the building -and the people inside of it- alive and healthy. They had managed to save some civilians as well, but not many.

Needless to say, nuclear energy was always a study or concern for the eighteen year olds running on bad coffee and fifty pounds of chocolate and pez dispensers and fries, going by Koh's vague half an education understanding. At least one person took the subject by storm a year.

So combine that (what little she actually had) with the capability to command and corral, and she and hers made an excellent bodyguard and trainer and surveyor. On paper, the Triwizard Tournament was meant to do two things: show off the of age wizarding population against the backdrop of the past war, and improve international magical relations.

All Sayo had heard when the pudgy man had told her that long diatribe was: politics. She hated politics. But if these politics would get her and hers any hope of bringing her family home someday, she'd swallow anything.

 _You are a dragon. Dragons don't grovel._

An ear twitched beneath her hat at the reminder, drooping a little. Sayo skipped a step and left her mother's wraith behind.

 _Whatever it took,_ she reminded herself. Whatever it took. Reaching the bottom stairwell, she heard a horrible grunt. She paused and took a sniff of the air. Pine and lemongrass. Possibly from the kitchen. Not her business. So she kept walking. She needed to see Abe before he decided to leave on his own and crash his way through dimensions or something. Digimon were often found doing that, having gotten stuck trying to go one way and failing miserably at it.

She hurried down the path into the grass. He did not move as she approached. He wasn't sleeping either. He merely exhaled. "What do you want, tamer girl?"

"Get you back to where you belong, I suppose." Sayo shrugged and sat beside him. "Now that you've proven you can go to heel like the rest of us."

"After you danced me like a showboat trophy you mean."

Sayo shrugged. She wouldn't deny it. "I'll do whatever i need to do. It's not like I planned this."

"Your name is infamous in the worlds."

"Is it?" She laughed. "Didn't know i was famous."

"Well, less of your given, more of your familial." He scoffed, the sound makin the grass flatten. "Talosians."

The word burnt. She wanted to bury it beneath her heel and just gut the thing already but she couldn't. Dictation demanded that she at the very least behave herself and not kill a sacred boar-

And it was sapient, her uncle would kill her for killing and eating a creature of sapience for some reason.

"I like it about as much as you do."

"Time-killer."

"I beg- what?" That threw her. That threw her all across the courtyard if words had the force for it.

He smirked. "Oh something the great survivalist didn't know. Interesting."

Sayo chewed on her lip. "Is this about the Chrono Core thing?" Her gut did not twitch nope not at all, her eyes did not prickle with tears.

"You didn't think you would just get away with it if you time-hopped, did you?" Abe snorted and sent some stray grass flying.

"... Honestly I kind of hoped I would."

 _A clenched fist. Meteors falling, children exploding, a stab through the head._

"It wasn't exactly an experience I wanted to repeat."

Abe laughed again and it was cold. "Too bad, little time-killer. You can't run away forever. Time will catch up to you."

"Long as it doesn't catch my sister I'll deal."

"Is that why you're letting her harm the youth here?"

"I dunno, the school seems to think it's fine when everyone else does it. Because they're poor, because they're muggles or whatever the gibberish is. Is it really so wrong because a random girl does it and not a rich boy with pretty hair?"

"You're asking me about humans when you are a human."

"I'm not a very good one, apparently." Sayo rose to her feet. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Someday you won't be able to run," warned Abe, but he braced himself anyway.

Sayo shrugged and raised her digivice. "You may be right. Gate, open."

 _She's not my responsibility here,_ she reminded herself as she sent him away. _She's Mister Snape's, so I can't fix her every scraped knee._

What she could do was get back to work, to research, to finding what the chief had wanted her to. They didn't have that much longer until the Triwizard Tournament and she needed all of the time she could get.

So that was what Sayo did.

It was almost easier now. It sure hadn't been when her sister had been far out of reach.

* * *

Severus Snape was not a good teacher.

He was a brilliant, excellent, terrifying potioneer. He was a spellcrafter, had dabbled in alchemy, studied wards under Dumbledore in seventh year and was an incredible, self-trained Occulmens.

But he was not a good teacher.

He could write words on the board, he could lecture, he could explain, he could test. But the man could not teach. He didn't have the patience for the young and the mistaken, the foolish and the reckless. He was not in a subject he could afford to.

But then, no students liked him. Even those in his house at best, were wary. Respectful, emboldened, determined.

And when the House had decided there was an outsider, well, there it was. And there was no reason to hide it. Not that people truly noticed often enough.

The trouble with the younger Tsukino girl was that she was being noticed. She was being made _special._ She was proud where Slytherins were confident and assured. And years of bullying and abandonment and fringe living made Severus Snape despise pride in all its forms.

Especially from those who could hide among the bigger and better.

Tsukino Yuki sat in the wooden chair on the other side of his desk. She didn't move. She barely seemed to be breathing. Her eyes moved about the room, unseeing of shapes and likely most color. Magic never lasted in the dungeons.

"You think loudly," he informed her.

"I can't read loudly so it's the best i can do sir," she said in her usual flat voice. "Don't you have Potter to treat terribly, rather than call me here? I'm sure the others in the common room weren't done with me." She bore the smell of spells and hexes and sweat.

"Potter," he hissed the name before he could quite control his level of vritrol. "Is not attacking his housemates with their service cane and fists over petty, childish outbursts."

"I'm eleven," Tsukino pointed out. "Raised by actual people and not what most of your house calls parents. Sir." The last word came clearly as an afterthought.

Snape did not bother to look at her. He could hear her thoughts, loudly pulsing and vibrating with offense imagined and real. "Do you want to make an enemy of me?"

"Earth is my enemy." She still barely moved. "Your people killed my possible siblings, you nearly killed my sister, I never got to meet my big brother because of all of you." She flapped a hand. "Not you specifically, but Earth's laws did. Sent us away, except unlike wizards the planet is off limits."

"And you believe that sorrow gives you free reign to harm others," he drawled, thinking of pathetic, petty, monstrous Sirius Black and that was when it clicked, that was when it all came together in a sickening sense of understanding. It was like Potter and Black come again with no minders and no one but him had noticed.

"I don't really care if it does or not," Tsukino admitted. "I don't care about very much. Just sis. Just her and dad and uncle. But sis is the only one here. Because of me."

Snape did not pause in his grading as he spoke. Then, voice dry, he offered to her. "And is what you're doing helping her?"

Snape watched over his hair as Tsukino paused, head bowing towards her hands. "Probably not," she finally said, breath hitching like an actual child and not… whatever this girl actually was, actually had to be. "But they-"

"They are not you," Snape finally put the paper aside, not atrocious but likely copied from overachieving Granger. "You are to control yourself and no others. Malfoy and Nott were foolish, yes, and they forgot, for a moment, of the value all Slytherins put on family. But you also forgot that Slytherin is meant to be yours. You do your sister no favors attacking your fellows."

He watched her hunch in her chair, folding over and shrinking steadily smaller as he spoke. He'd lost his guilt a long time ago. It did nothing to him.

"More detention then," she finally said in a voice full of bravado, Gryffindor bravado. It was really quite disgusting.

"Indeed," Severus agreed, and went on to another paper, leaving them both alone and nearly still.

But that wouldn't be all, of course not. But it would be enough of a start. A little humiliation would work wonders. If only Dumbledore had the guts to do it sooner.

* * *

The second week of lessons began with everyone still talking about the giant boar, and what was to come.

The Slytherins had fallen strangely quiet. Well, to Astoria it wasn't strange. After all, their resident troublemaker (not Draco, apparently he wasn't intended to fall into line, just to fall if her sister's words were anything to go by) had finally fallen into line.

Mostly.

Yuki didn't use the slang, didn't sneer at other houses, didn't mock or whisper. She still spoke crassly and didn't spend time in the common room. But she was very firmly meeting no one with a lifted head, as if seeing the magic through their skin and therefore the rest of them. She ignored any taunts and jibes. And she listened to the older years with intent.

Whatever had happened over the weekend in Snape's office, and the moments after, it had made an effect.

She sat next to Astoria every day for every meal but always left first. She never spoke about genetics again, nor brought up the curse she'd claimed to have seen on Astoria herself. Zabini tried to engage her in conversation, but it was quick and clipped and decidedly uncomfortable.

And slowly, all of the fighting had turned to quiet whispers, low mockery.

Then their next class with Professor Tsukino arrived.

"Wands in the box," she said again. She took roll softly, quickly. It really didn't look like the same woman who had supposedly broken a window and beat down a giant boar. "You'll get to use your wands next class."

Astoria slid to the floor like before, prepared for the squishiness of the grass and the coolness of the room. She rather liked the professor's classroom, and even, when she wasn't performing stupid, reckless things on students, the professor herself. She was perfectly polite and interested in them. She didn't know enough to be offended by their reputations directly and in fact seemed more interest in anything else.

The room was still and quiet, everyone examining it and each other. By now they'd all heard what had happened in the courtyard and the fourth-year classroom. It was all neatly repaired, no real harm. But there were now whispers and questions and… rumors. She was a dragon. She wasn't human, she was immortal, she was Dumbledore's secret mistress child, she and Snape were partners for the Dark Lord, she was Hogwarts itself. So many.

"So," the professor began as the door finally swung shut. "I was intending to do a more one-on-one lesson, but Abe the boar got in the way. So, we're going to do something different. I'm going to ask you a question, and no matter the answer, someone else will get to ask me a question. And so on. Sound good?"

Silence.

The teacher made a face, lips tugging high up into a grin. "I asked my question, it's your turn now."

A few rippled snickers. Then, Darren Paisley, a little Ravenclaw, raised his hand. "Why did that monster try to attack our school?"

Professor Tsukino didn't even blink. "I don't know. My best guess was that he just ended up here at the wrong place at the wrong time. That can happen because of the dimensional barriers. They've been steadily weakening throughout this year because non-magical technology is growing rapidly. What is the purpose of the House Cup?"

"Minor glory?" offered Tansy Wilkenson, already too tall for twelve and fussing with her Gryffindor tie and not sure how to take that entire paragraph. "So we have practice being like, I dunno, willing to work hard for our team?"

The professor nodded. Then one of Astoria's friends asked, very quietly. "Why does your sister like to fight people?"

They all watched her expression, watched it flicker through multiple things at the same time. But In the end, the professor merely straightened up and replied with, "The Digital World, which for the sake of this question, you can assume we resided in when not in school-" she held out her hand. "Answering this one first. The digital world, which for the sake of argument, she and I grew up in outside of education, was and is still relatively lawless. The few human settlements that exist spend most of their time fighting to survive and all of that happy nonsense. My sister was… enslaved, used, by a particularly nasty creature, that wasn't a native resident of the Digital World. We only freed her a few months prior, but she's not coping well. My higher ups said it may be better for her to learn to control her… magical energy, _mana_ I think you all call it, in a place where there is less of it in the general air. Unfortunately, well, I'm all she's got as a reason to behave herself." The teacher snorted. "I'm a terrible reason to go against the habits she's formed. That said, Professor Dumbledore sees this as an opportunity for her and us and you. But she's struggling. She is aiming to lash out less, but she's prickly and people unfortunately," Her eyes flicked to Astoria and away. "Like to provoke weakness out of who they perceive as easy targets. So, don't be an easy target, and don't provoke bears. Important life lessons."

Professor Tsukino paused for breath, then prompted. "Most hated professor or class and why?"

Two hands shot up and William Parkinson scoffed and said, "Binns. Dead and useless and never says an interesting tidbit of history that's not a wizard interpretation of goblin wars and most people fail their OWLs if they listen to him and still do if they don't, but he tied himself to the school and won't buzz off."

"Snape," argued, not a Gryffindor, to Astoria's surprise, but a Ravenclaw girl whose name she didn't know. "Even McGonagall is fair, but he never taught us safety in first year when we started class, only boasted about how important the subject is and berated people who worked across the aisle." She glared at the Slytherin next to her, who had opened his mouth. "My friend got detention for asking for help this morning. On a tough potion when she couldn't see the board! He's an unfair teacher and his dungeons have runes older than us on them. I got hives on my hands because I was allergic to lizard scales, but he said I ruined my potion!"

There were low murmurs of agreement. Astoria had to pause. She hadn't heard that before, ever. Last year had been Black on the loose of course, and dementors and everything but that hadn't happened before.

A few students looked mutinous.

"Anyone else," Professor Tsukino asked, and one person looked around and said, cautiously.

"Trelawney. " A few voices rose and they shook their head. "Naw, she's not a fraud, but you can't teach the Sight. You can't. It can be coaxed out but to everyone else, her room is headache inducing. That's a class we should be tested in, not given for an easy O."

"Hagrid," said another, a boy in a Slytherin tie, Daniel, she thought it was. "He's got super interesting stuff, but they don't regulate the class well. Morons get their arms cut up because they don't know that being 'better'-" Heavy air quotes inserted. "Doesn't matter to people that don't have gold in their hands. I don't want that class getting canceled because of dumb students."

Astoria didn't quite mean to but she laughed at that. And she was sure people heard it. To cover her slip, she turned to their teacher. "Why was this class approved and required?"

Professor Tsukino regarded her, and then all of them. "The basic reason was that your magic was discovered during the year before last to be channeling mainly to your wand arms and it was weakening your ability to cast, and you have limited physical education which also could weaken the ability to cast. They found it while waking people up from petrification, but no one was willing to come to the school and teach a subject many families weren't fond of. The Digital Monsters aspect was a compromise so they could get someone they could study the phenomenon with someone in the age group. Honestly my uncle would have been better for the position." She clapped her hands. "Is that sensible?"

She met a lot of nodding faces, a little less caution in their frowns. "All righty. Who is your best teacher and why?"

And so it went on.


End file.
